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, and Four
Solo Session - 'The Neillson Library'
Story Two Continued- 'The Pasadena Problem' - Part Five, Six, Seven and Eight
Story Three - 'Becoming Baron' - Part One, Two, Three, Four and Five
Solo Session - 'The Gather'
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, and Four
Solo Session - 'The Neillson Library'
Story Two Continued- 'The Pasadena Problem' - Part Five, Six, Seven and Eight
Story Three - 'Becoming Baron' - Part One, Two, Three, Four and Five
Solo Session - 'The Gather'
The PC's
Phil as Michael Tomassio - Toreador
and Hope Romero - Gangrel
Tom as Johnny 'Roach' West - Malkavian
and Marie - Clan Carna
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
With the 'Reaper' and his gang dead the Line 20's under the guidance of the Malkavian Roach and their new leader Reuben Hart have evacuated downtown and have taken over much of the newly vacated criminal operations in Pasadena.
The properties acquired via the deeds from the safe deposit boxes of the former Baron Vignes have been used to locate the moved gang members and create bases of operations for them as well as points for drug distribution and safe houses. Michael's social contacts have been utilised by Roach in order to create some in-roads into higher end markets for narcotics.
The stable of girls who made up Reapers prostitution ring have been moved from the streets into several apartment buildings and put under the protection of the Brujah Vin. The Banu Haqim Doctor Matthews has patched up the wounds of the gang members hurt during the take-over and has checked the prostitutes as well though his priority in the latter case was mainly to check that they carried no blood born diseases.
The vacant warehouse next door to the gallery is being gradually converted into a clubhouse of sorts and will eventually become the headquarters for the 'Society for the Improvement of Pasadena' an apparently charitable organisation quite keen on neighbourhood watch schemes and blood drives, while the more difficult to explain items from the coteries inventories have been moved to storage areas in the galleries recently installed escape tunnel.
With the more unsavoury elements of the expansion in the hands of those more suited to their implementation the Toreador Michael has decided that one more powerful kindred ally should be enough to enable him to declare himself baron without opposition.
Scene Twenty Two - The Stranger
Vin - You have received word from several of your network of street-people that the strange beggar recently reported to you has been seen in the area several times more. As before the newcomer was heavily covered in layers of rags and always retreats should any-one approach him. One of the more trusted of these retainers swears that on one occasion he disappeared down a blind alley "literally disappeared" in their words as there was was absolutely no sign of him when they investigated. It's also noted that he only appears at night...
Roach - From your usual place seated on the rear fire-escape of the gallery you can see one of the beggars that passes for a retainer amongst Vin's circle of allies that you know as 'Cooper' is waiting by the rear loading bay entrance presumably to speak with Vin. You imagine that Michael's ghoul Lisa will be none to happy about him hanging around.
After waiting for a moment and realising that no-one else was going to be sorting out the problem any time soon Roach shouted for Vin that one of his 'Wombles' was hanging around out back. "Alright Vin...that weird beggar fella we told you 'bout is hanging around again...actually spoke to one of the lads this time...said some-one called Henry said you could be trusted...wants to know if he can talk...he's behind the drugstore a block up...want I should fetch him?" Vin decided that given Michael's attitude to his herd of allies that he'd probably be better checking it out himself before coming to a decision and instructed Cooper to lead him to this mysterious stranger.
The stranger was several blocks away and did indeed seem to be little more than a beggar wrapped in rags. He indicated that he wished Vin to dismiss his guide and with his curiosity somewhat getting the better of him he did as asked.
Once the kine have departed and only kindred remain the slightly ugly beggar before you becomes one of the ugliest Nosferatu you've ever seen and as you can imagine he's up against some pretty stiff competition in that area. His face is emaciated, practically skeletal in fact with huge misshapen fangs and a truly impressive selection of disfigurements can be seen on the few visible areas of his body. In somewhat of a contrast to this is what once would have been a highly fashionable coat...in the 1800's and a fine if now somewhat stained shirt, The clothes remind you of those you'd seen worn by Edward Vignes when at home.
The Nosferatu told Vin that he wished to speak to the coterie who had attempted to aid Henry about a personal matter but that an alleyway was hardly the place to do so. After consulting with Michael, Roach and Daniel via phone it was obvious that Michael didn't want a bum strolling through his gallery and that the other two were suspicious of the newcomer based on their less than spectacular experiences recently with other kindred. Picking up that his appearance might be an issue the Nosferatu offered a solution and promptly his appearance change d to that of a fairly generic businessman in a nice suit. exactly the sort of person in fact that wouldn't look out of place in an art gallery.
Several of the coteries members had abilities that enabled them to detect the disguises of other kindred but even Roach's talents in this area failed to penetrate the Nosferatu's impressive talents of obfuscation. Once alone their guest dropped his disguise introduced himself as Alonzo and began to speak. "I've been on my own for a long time, after some of the treatment I've had from our own kind I had no desire to subject myself to any more of the same, but then I met Henry and he just accepted me for what I was, we used to meet up sometimes and just talk, I taught him some things too, too late or not well enough it seems. I hear it was you who tried to help them get him away from Edward?"
Michael confirmed that they had attempted to help but had unfortunately been unsuccessful due to Henry's betrayal by Vera. After a moments pause the Nosferatu continued. "It wasn't till he'd gone that I realised I missed the presence of others, I'd like to rejoin my clan but strange as it may sound you're now the only kindred I know of who haven't met final death or are vitae crazed diablerists like your neighbours in Glendale or Anathema like the lady in Burbank and it's quite some time since I've ventured into the actual city" "Are the Warrens still inhabited or have my clan moved somewhere else?"
Michael's empathetic abilities were sufficient to detect that he was obviously desperately lonely and would probably be very grateful to any-one who helped him. Also given that their own abilities were unable to counter his he was quite probably an elder so might carry some weight with getting Gary to support his elevation to Baron of Pasadena especially being as they were planning on visiting Gary anyway.
He could also detect the reticence of his own allies to help considering that the last act of charity they engaged in had not gone well at all so he asked Alonzo if he wouldn't mind once again adopting his disguise and perusing the gallery while they discussed the matter.
The lack of trust on the other kindred's part was apparent but Michael pointed out that they were going to have to deal with other kindred as the alternative was to '"lock themselves in the gallery and never go outside or deal with any-one!" which make their overall goal somewhat difficult to accomplish. Roach and Daniel weren't happy that he'd been watching them for some time before approaching though Vin pointed out that it's exactly what they themselves would have done in his place.
After a debate that went back and forth several times it was eventually decided that Michael would gain permission from Isaac Abrams, Baron of Hollywood to enter his domain to speak with Gary and then would discuss the matter with him before taking Alonzo to meet him if he approved. Meanwhile Vin and Daniel would take Alonzo somewhere until they had a decision from Gary and it was suggested that Vin's currently un-used haven in the slums would be a far more suitable location than the initial suggestion of Michael's own home.
Scene Twenty Three - Two Trips
Their guest was currently engaged in a conversation with Lisa Irving about the finer artistic merits of a particular work when Michael approached him to inform him of their decision to speak with the Nosferatu on his behalf while he stopped with two of the coterie to await his decision. Alonzo seemed to have no objection to the plan and accompanied Daniel and Vin to one of the galleries vehicles. Daniel of course recognised Alonzo as the Nosferatu who had met up with Henry at the cave in the hills and had informed the rest that this part of his story at least was true. "You were the disturbance at the cave?*" asked Alonzo "We've never met..." stated Daniel "In fact..." "...we're not even meeting now..." The threat was evident in his voice and Vin checked what was going on in the rear view mirror, curious about why Daniel felt the need to remain anonymous just as Alonzo moved with surprising speed and grabbed the Banu Haqim around the neck with one hand and squeezed very slightly.
* The Pasadena Problem - Interlude Five
Backtracking swiftly before the Nosferatu crushed his throat Daniel explained that he had personal reasons for wishing to remain anonymous and that he wasn't threatening Alonzo merely pointing out something that he wanted him to know. Alonzo released his grip and apologised for overacting but as he pointed out "I haven't spent much time around others for quite some time so my social skills are somewhat out of date". Vin who could tell the difference between an attack meant to kill and one meant to intimidate merely smiled to himself and carried on driving to his haven.
What passed for Vin's private Haven was a windowless downstairs apartment in one of the worst parts of Los Angeles. The apartment was effectively empty other than some obviously 3rd hand furniture and a pile of bloody clothes in one corner that looked like they'd been there for some time. When Alonzo enquired about Isaac Abrams, Daniel informed him he was a Toreador, an arrogant prick and also not a big fan of Nosferatu in general or the ones living under his domain in particular which is why they always let Michael arrange with him about travelling into his barony. It was while talking that Daniel noticed that for some reason there was a selection of children's A,B,C's learn to read books piled up in one corner and were the only items in the haven that seemed to have had any care taken of them.
After Michael was informed that they had their new acquaintance safely at Vin's place he made the call to Isaac and after the usual commiseration about having to once again enter the sewers he was given appropriate permission. The Toreador imagined that his recent gift to the Baron may have had something to do with the ease with which permission was granted. Michael who was psychologically incapable of dressing down picked his least liked outfit for the trip below Hollywood as he knew he'd be throwing it away the moment he returned. Before leaving he contacted both Marie and Hope to inform them that depending on how his upcoming meeting went he might have jobs for them both.
As usual the sewer entrance was guarded by a disguised Nosferatu who Roach informed Michael was the same one as before though to be honest Michael had a bit of trouble telling them apart as he tended to avoid looking at them if he could get away with it. As before they were led a somewhat convoluted route through the underground tunnels which they had been informed was due to a Tzimisce creation that had survived the 2004 Sabbat invasion occasionally emerging from certain locations and killing anything it found. Michael's call to Marie and Hope had been in anticipation of it's removal being Gary's price for his support.
Once led through the sewers and down into the Warrens that the Nosferatu under Hollywood used as their haven they were once again introduced to their leader Gary for whom they had recently avenged the death of a favoured mortal at the hands of a renegade group of thin-bloods who were attempting to force their leader Jenna to declare a war on the rest of Los Angeles and declare herself Prince. Roach broached the subject of the Nosferatu Alonzo who Gary admitted to knowing the name of but was sure that "He hadn't been seen in LA for a century at least".
While this information sunk in Michael requested the Nosferatu's support in securing the barony of Pasadena for himself, pointing out the services he'd provided, that they would ensure that the area was secure and would value the additional weight that a respected Nosferatu like Gary would give to their campaign. He also added that he would be a far better to friend to the Nosferatu than any others who might take the area for themselves. Roach then summarised the request "So we want Pasadena, you cool with that?". Gary agreed that he was intrigued by the request and most definitely had a task they could perform in return but would want to see if this was truly the Alonzo Guillen he'd heard of before making any other decisions.
Michael was escorted close enough to the service to make a phonecall telling the others to bring their new guest to the sewer entrance where a guide would meet them and also to bring any weapons they might need to go hunting in the sewers. Though he was hoping that Gary had some other boon in mind other than a search and destroy job he doubted it would be anything simple.
There are no hide and seek games from Gary on this occasion and he seems unusually serious "So it's true...an elder of our clan has indeed been lurking in the hills...so are you here to take over or are you one of the Nictuku come to slay us all?" Alonso attempts to assure him that neither of these things are true and that he simply wishes to rejoin his own kind. You can almost hear Gary's mind working to find a way to turn this to his advantage. Then..apparently an idea occurs which quite frankly comes as no surprise to any-one..."Perhaps you'd be willing to undertake a small test to prove your dedication? A service to the Nosferatu of Los Angeles that shows your new found dedication to your clan and me?" The rest of you having spoken to the Nosferatu's guide and having a passing knowledge of Gary have a good idea where this is about to go...
"Some remnant of the Sabbat invasion, a flesh-crafted monstrosity of the Tzimisce has been terrorising the warrens on and off for over a decade, emerging and slaying at will before returning to the depths. If you were to end this threat and enable us to once again reclaim secrets denied to us from that time then you'd be more than welcome to join us..." "Perhaps you're new friends would like to help you in your quest and gain my favour also?...of course there's no shame in leaving you to face the danger alone...it is a daunting task all things considered..."
Michael was intrigued by the idea that the Nosferatu had secrets hidden in the sealed off areas but his main concern was ensuring that Gary would be a voice in favour of him becoming Baron of Pasadena and could use any refusal to help as justification for doing exactly the opposite. Roach's initial apathy to the Nosferatu in LA was their current lack of an information network but if that network could be restored then their favour might be worth cultivating. Vin on the other hand was thinking more that free access through the sewers of LA would be a great tactical advantage. Before that of course if there's any actual violence to be done then himself, Daniel, Hope and the Nosferatu would be doing the bulk of the work.
Daniel's desire to help came from a different angle altogether as having friends amongst the Nosferatu would greatly assist in any information gathering he needed to do in the future though he imagined that the task must be quite dangerous or he'd already have dealt with it. It also would be a chance to prove that planning and tactics are better than a headlong charge. Several of them were also surprised that given that Marius had helped clear the warrens for them in the first place that they hadn't asked him to deal with the creature for them. Perhaps his price was simply too high. Eventually a deal was struck so that should the creature be destroyed Gary would support them in their quest to make Michael Baron and should they also obtain the missing pieces of their Shrecknet hub he would also use his influence to divert those who might vote against them. Of course for Alonzo the deal was far simpler, the creature must die if he wished to return as one of the Hollywood Nosferatu.
Interlude - Mitnick
As your heading out one of the Nosferatu approaches you "So I hear your planning a visit into the sealed off sections?" "Because if you happen to find a large metal suitcase about so big..." He extended his arms to indicate a case about two feet across "...probably next to a very actually dead ghoul or maybe a kindred I'd appreciate you bringing it back with you..." You almost have to admire the directness as evidently this particular Nosferatu doesn't get involved in kindred politics very much...
"I'd been in touch with an online acquaintance who in return for some exchanges of information was having something delivered to help with our network problems. The delivery boy was due to meet me and had the bad luck to pop by just as the thing in the sewers popped out for lunch..." "...Of course maybe he just got fucking lost but the timing seems unfortunate, anyway, now my helpful contact has said we'll get fuck all help from him because he lost a valuable asset because we can't look after our own territory..." "...At least if I find what happened it might help smooth things over a bit, mainly I want the case though..." "...It's worth a boon to me at least and maybe if things get up and running again I can be even more helpful, specially if Gary never finds out about this little chat and I get to take the credit when our servers are up and running again..." Perhaps he has a basic grasp of kindred politics after all...
They agreed that if they came across the item they'd pick it up though they wouldn't compromise their primary task to locate it. Apparently deciding he'd be no worse off than he was now he thanked them for their consideration, before informing them that it was him who'd be guiding them to the entrance to the contested area of the sewer network and to let him know when they were ready to enter.
Scene Twenty Four - The Hunt Begins
Marie and Hope are escorted to the meeting place in the Warrens as they're met by Michael who is being escorted out. With the negotiations done the Toreador has no desire to spend any more time underground and heads off to destroy his clothes, bathe and then get on with the business of establishing their legitimate businesses.
The fact that he had recently ghouled a financial expert would no doubt greatly assist with the process. Roach had also left the job in the hands of the more combat able members of the coterie as he was the first to admit that combat wasn't high in his preferred methods of dealing with problems
Storytellers Note - I think the NPC character Marius has been a bad example on the PC's as 'create a ghoul' seems to be their current 'go-to' if there's any gaps in their skill sets.
Vin had his USAS-12 fully automatic shotgun with several twenty round drums, his trusty machete and the usual extra selection of knives and guns as well as a torch. Daniel had his karambit knives, falcatta and silenced pistols though he'd supplemented these with a shotgun from the coteries armoury as well as as set of night-vision goggles that he had found useful in several 'jobs' over the years.
Hope had her shotgun, a handgun she'd acquired from the Sabbat they'd eliminated and a fire-axe which she had decided was a remarkably effective weapon after butchering several gang members with it.
The newest recruit to their hunting party, the House Carna blood magician Marie had apparently taken only a knife with her though it was an especially elaborate one and she did also have a bag containing various bottles and potions.
Before they left Marie questioned several of the Nosferatu who had survived attacks by the tunnel hunter hoping to gain a detailed enough description to enable her to cast a ritual that would enable her to track the creature.
Storytellers Note - The blood magic ritual 'Illuminate the Trail of Prey' doesn't strictly speaking work this way but what the hell it sounded like a cool idea to have a blood magician tracker so I just hand-waved a few of the restrictions away.
You are led to the section of the sewers previously bypassed by your guides on your last visit and to a large metal gate held shut by thick lengths of chain secured with the an impressively large padlock. The actual gate lock is twisted and torn as if force-ably removed by something with considerable strength.
Your guide is fiddling around with a panel nearby and as he does so you can see several lights illuminate down the currently sealed off corridor though there are many gaps where there's nothing but darkness and others where the lights are flickering alarmingly. With a heavy clunk the padlock is removed and your guide gestures you onward with a theatrical gesture. You can hear the chain being fastened behind you "I'll check back every hour till daylight...If you're here I'll open everything up again..." He doesn't sound particularly confident...
The blood sorcery cast by Marie had worked despite her needing to adapt the ritual to suit the slightly unusual circumstances as she could see a faint glowing trail ahead that showed that something matching the description of their prey had passed this way within the last forty-eight hours. They had obtained a map of the sewers from Gary and between them were attempting to find a route that would make it difficult for a creature as large as their quarry to have any room to manoeuvre. Initially however there was only a single path that led directly towards the trail that only Marie could see.
A flight of stairs leads down into an area lit by a single flickering bulb hanging on bare wires from somewhere in the ceiling. The floor below you is strewn with debris...
Daniel had scouted ahead under a cloak of invisibility created by his mastery of Obfuscate and something about the debris below seemed strange to him as it was almost too evenly spaced like it had been placed their deliberately rather than accumulating over time. Looking around for a suitable lump of debris he threw it into the centre of the corridor.
The floor ahead was not as solid as it first appeared and a piece of canvas fixed loosely to the edges of a pit concealed under a thin layer of detritus fell away into it. As the others approached he reappeared and gestured for them to stop before examining the trap. Some ten feet below where the canvass had been there was a selection of jagged pieces of wood, rusty metal spikes and broken glass that had been pushed into or otherwise attached to several wooden pallets below. A selection of animal bones were scattered between them and there is one much larger rib-cage in one corner near the remnants of a set of overalls. Dropping carefully down with supernatural agility the Banu Haqim searched through the overalls but found only a set of keys in one pocket. Not sure if they were useful or not he kept them before easily leaping the few metres to the pit edge and pulling himself out.
This however bought another thought to mind. This passage and stairway was far too large for the creature described to them to pass through yet this trap had obviously been triggered several times, which also meant it had needed to be reset on an equal number of occasions by something dexterous enough to do so.
Strange tracks were also evident but inexplicably the creature that made them seemed to be walking on three legs and one hand. Similar Tzimisce creations had been described to them in the initial attack over a decade ago but they had been assured that these unintelligent and instinctual hunters had been completely destroyed.
This meant that either the Nosferatu had missed a lot more of the creations than they thought or there was something else going on here.
With little option other than returning to Gary they continued though Alonzo now moved ahead as it seemed he was familiar with the areas that they now entered...
To Be Continued in 'Becoming Baron' - Part Seven
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...
This was meant to be a simple case of Alonzo turning up, introducing himself as a friend of Henry which Daniel would back up and then they could head off to the sewers to meet Gary with their new friend in tow. Instead it took three hours for them to reach the point that was meant to be ten minutes in after the intro...
I guess the moral of this story is that it's possible to do to good a job of making your players paranoid. It also means that this particular adventure will take twice as long as I thought it would but at least I don't need to write any material for their journey through the warrens as that bit was already written...they just didn't get to do much of it, lol.
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, Hope is Deborah Ann Woll, Marie is Eva Greene, Henry Waters is Henry Caville and Isaac Abrams is Gary Oldman. 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.
The properties acquired via the deeds from the safe deposit boxes of the former Baron Vignes have been used to locate the moved gang members and create bases of operations for them as well as points for drug distribution and safe houses. Michael's social contacts have been utilised by Roach in order to create some in-roads into higher end markets for narcotics.
The stable of girls who made up Reapers prostitution ring have been moved from the streets into several apartment buildings and put under the protection of the Brujah Vin. The Banu Haqim Doctor Matthews has patched up the wounds of the gang members hurt during the take-over and has checked the prostitutes as well though his priority in the latter case was mainly to check that they carried no blood born diseases.
With the more unsavoury elements of the expansion in the hands of those more suited to their implementation the Toreador Michael has decided that one more powerful kindred ally should be enough to enable him to declare himself baron without opposition.
Scene Twenty Two - The Stranger
Roach - From your usual place seated on the rear fire-escape of the gallery you can see one of the beggars that passes for a retainer amongst Vin's circle of allies that you know as 'Cooper' is waiting by the rear loading bay entrance presumably to speak with Vin. You imagine that Michael's ghoul Lisa will be none to happy about him hanging around.
After waiting for a moment and realising that no-one else was going to be sorting out the problem any time soon Roach shouted for Vin that one of his 'Wombles' was hanging around out back. "Alright Vin...that weird beggar fella we told you 'bout is hanging around again...actually spoke to one of the lads this time...said some-one called Henry said you could be trusted...wants to know if he can talk...he's behind the drugstore a block up...want I should fetch him?" Vin decided that given Michael's attitude to his herd of allies that he'd probably be better checking it out himself before coming to a decision and instructed Cooper to lead him to this mysterious stranger.
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| Alonzo Guillen - Nosferatu Autarkis |
Once the kine have departed and only kindred remain the slightly ugly beggar before you becomes one of the ugliest Nosferatu you've ever seen and as you can imagine he's up against some pretty stiff competition in that area. His face is emaciated, practically skeletal in fact with huge misshapen fangs and a truly impressive selection of disfigurements can be seen on the few visible areas of his body. In somewhat of a contrast to this is what once would have been a highly fashionable coat...in the 1800's and a fine if now somewhat stained shirt, The clothes remind you of those you'd seen worn by Edward Vignes when at home.
The Nosferatu told Vin that he wished to speak to the coterie who had attempted to aid Henry about a personal matter but that an alleyway was hardly the place to do so. After consulting with Michael, Roach and Daniel via phone it was obvious that Michael didn't want a bum strolling through his gallery and that the other two were suspicious of the newcomer based on their less than spectacular experiences recently with other kindred. Picking up that his appearance might be an issue the Nosferatu offered a solution and promptly his appearance change d to that of a fairly generic businessman in a nice suit. exactly the sort of person in fact that wouldn't look out of place in an art gallery.
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| Henry Waters - Ventrue Met Final Death |
Michael confirmed that they had attempted to help but had unfortunately been unsuccessful due to Henry's betrayal by Vera. After a moments pause the Nosferatu continued. "It wasn't till he'd gone that I realised I missed the presence of others, I'd like to rejoin my clan but strange as it may sound you're now the only kindred I know of who haven't met final death or are vitae crazed diablerists like your neighbours in Glendale or Anathema like the lady in Burbank and it's quite some time since I've ventured into the actual city" "Are the Warrens still inhabited or have my clan moved somewhere else?"
Michael's empathetic abilities were sufficient to detect that he was obviously desperately lonely and would probably be very grateful to any-one who helped him. Also given that their own abilities were unable to counter his he was quite probably an elder so might carry some weight with getting Gary to support his elevation to Baron of Pasadena especially being as they were planning on visiting Gary anyway.
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| Isaac Abrams - Toreador Baron of Hollywood |
The lack of trust on the other kindred's part was apparent but Michael pointed out that they were going to have to deal with other kindred as the alternative was to '"lock themselves in the gallery and never go outside or deal with any-one!" which make their overall goal somewhat difficult to accomplish. Roach and Daniel weren't happy that he'd been watching them for some time before approaching though Vin pointed out that it's exactly what they themselves would have done in his place.
After a debate that went back and forth several times it was eventually decided that Michael would gain permission from Isaac Abrams, Baron of Hollywood to enter his domain to speak with Gary and then would discuss the matter with him before taking Alonzo to meet him if he approved. Meanwhile Vin and Daniel would take Alonzo somewhere until they had a decision from Gary and it was suggested that Vin's currently un-used haven in the slums would be a far more suitable location than the initial suggestion of Michael's own home.
Scene Twenty Three - Two Trips
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| Alonzo's Haven - Pasadena Hills |
* The Pasadena Problem - Interlude Five
What passed for Vin's private Haven was a windowless downstairs apartment in one of the worst parts of Los Angeles. The apartment was effectively empty other than some obviously 3rd hand furniture and a pile of bloody clothes in one corner that looked like they'd been there for some time. When Alonzo enquired about Isaac Abrams, Daniel informed him he was a Toreador, an arrogant prick and also not a big fan of Nosferatu in general or the ones living under his domain in particular which is why they always let Michael arrange with him about travelling into his barony. It was while talking that Daniel noticed that for some reason there was a selection of children's A,B,C's learn to read books piled up in one corner and were the only items in the haven that seemed to have had any care taken of them.
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| Caleb - Nosferatu Hollywood Warrens |
As usual the sewer entrance was guarded by a disguised Nosferatu who Roach informed Michael was the same one as before though to be honest Michael had a bit of trouble telling them apart as he tended to avoid looking at them if he could get away with it. As before they were led a somewhat convoluted route through the underground tunnels which they had been informed was due to a Tzimisce creation that had survived the 2004 Sabbat invasion occasionally emerging from certain locations and killing anything it found. Michael's call to Marie and Hope had been in anticipation of it's removal being Gary's price for his support.
Once led through the sewers and down into the Warrens that the Nosferatu under Hollywood used as their haven they were once again introduced to their leader Gary for whom they had recently avenged the death of a favoured mortal at the hands of a renegade group of thin-bloods who were attempting to force their leader Jenna to declare a war on the rest of Los Angeles and declare herself Prince. Roach broached the subject of the Nosferatu Alonzo who Gary admitted to knowing the name of but was sure that "He hadn't been seen in LA for a century at least".
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| 'Gorgeous' Gary Golden - Nosferatu Former Primogen - Nosferatu Leader |
Michael was escorted close enough to the service to make a phonecall telling the others to bring their new guest to the sewer entrance where a guide would meet them and also to bring any weapons they might need to go hunting in the sewers. Though he was hoping that Gary had some other boon in mind other than a search and destroy job he doubted it would be anything simple.
There are no hide and seek games from Gary on this occasion and he seems unusually serious "So it's true...an elder of our clan has indeed been lurking in the hills...so are you here to take over or are you one of the Nictuku come to slay us all?" Alonso attempts to assure him that neither of these things are true and that he simply wishes to rejoin his own kind. You can almost hear Gary's mind working to find a way to turn this to his advantage. Then..apparently an idea occurs which quite frankly comes as no surprise to any-one..."Perhaps you'd be willing to undertake a small test to prove your dedication? A service to the Nosferatu of Los Angeles that shows your new found dedication to your clan and me?" The rest of you having spoken to the Nosferatu's guide and having a passing knowledge of Gary have a good idea where this is about to go...
Michael was intrigued by the idea that the Nosferatu had secrets hidden in the sealed off areas but his main concern was ensuring that Gary would be a voice in favour of him becoming Baron of Pasadena and could use any refusal to help as justification for doing exactly the opposite. Roach's initial apathy to the Nosferatu in LA was their current lack of an information network but if that network could be restored then their favour might be worth cultivating. Vin on the other hand was thinking more that free access through the sewers of LA would be a great tactical advantage. Before that of course if there's any actual violence to be done then himself, Daniel, Hope and the Nosferatu would be doing the bulk of the work.
Daniel's desire to help came from a different angle altogether as having friends amongst the Nosferatu would greatly assist in any information gathering he needed to do in the future though he imagined that the task must be quite dangerous or he'd already have dealt with it. It also would be a chance to prove that planning and tactics are better than a headlong charge. Several of them were also surprised that given that Marius had helped clear the warrens for them in the first place that they hadn't asked him to deal with the creature for them. Perhaps his price was simply too high. Eventually a deal was struck so that should the creature be destroyed Gary would support them in their quest to make Michael Baron and should they also obtain the missing pieces of their Shrecknet hub he would also use his influence to divert those who might vote against them. Of course for Alonzo the deal was far simpler, the creature must die if he wished to return as one of the Hollywood Nosferatu.
Interlude - Mitnick
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| Mitnick - Nosferatu Childe of Gary |
"I'd been in touch with an online acquaintance who in return for some exchanges of information was having something delivered to help with our network problems. The delivery boy was due to meet me and had the bad luck to pop by just as the thing in the sewers popped out for lunch..." "...Of course maybe he just got fucking lost but the timing seems unfortunate, anyway, now my helpful contact has said we'll get fuck all help from him because he lost a valuable asset because we can't look after our own territory..." "...At least if I find what happened it might help smooth things over a bit, mainly I want the case though..." "...It's worth a boon to me at least and maybe if things get up and running again I can be even more helpful, specially if Gary never finds out about this little chat and I get to take the credit when our servers are up and running again..." Perhaps he has a basic grasp of kindred politics after all...
They agreed that if they came across the item they'd pick it up though they wouldn't compromise their primary task to locate it. Apparently deciding he'd be no worse off than he was now he thanked them for their consideration, before informing them that it was him who'd be guiding them to the entrance to the contested area of the sewer network and to let him know when they were ready to enter.
Scene Twenty Four - The Hunt Begins
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| Daniel Matthews - Banu Haqim |
The fact that he had recently ghouled a financial expert would no doubt greatly assist with the process. Roach had also left the job in the hands of the more combat able members of the coterie as he was the first to admit that combat wasn't high in his preferred methods of dealing with problems
Storytellers Note - I think the NPC character Marius has been a bad example on the PC's as 'create a ghoul' seems to be their current 'go-to' if there's any gaps in their skill sets.
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| 'Vin' - Brujah |
Hope had her shotgun, a handgun she'd acquired from the Sabbat they'd eliminated and a fire-axe which she had decided was a remarkably effective weapon after butchering several gang members with it.
The newest recruit to their hunting party, the House Carna blood magician Marie had apparently taken only a knife with her though it was an especially elaborate one and she did also have a bag containing various bottles and potions.
Before they left Marie questioned several of the Nosferatu who had survived attacks by the tunnel hunter hoping to gain a detailed enough description to enable her to cast a ritual that would enable her to track the creature.
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| Hope Romero - Gangrel |
You are led to the section of the sewers previously bypassed by your guides on your last visit and to a large metal gate held shut by thick lengths of chain secured with the an impressively large padlock. The actual gate lock is twisted and torn as if force-ably removed by something with considerable strength.
Your guide is fiddling around with a panel nearby and as he does so you can see several lights illuminate down the currently sealed off corridor though there are many gaps where there's nothing but darkness and others where the lights are flickering alarmingly. With a heavy clunk the padlock is removed and your guide gestures you onward with a theatrical gesture. You can hear the chain being fastened behind you "I'll check back every hour till daylight...If you're here I'll open everything up again..." He doesn't sound particularly confident...
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| Marie - Clan Carna |
A flight of stairs leads down into an area lit by a single flickering bulb hanging on bare wires from somewhere in the ceiling. The floor below you is strewn with debris...
Daniel had scouted ahead under a cloak of invisibility created by his mastery of Obfuscate and something about the debris below seemed strange to him as it was almost too evenly spaced like it had been placed their deliberately rather than accumulating over time. Looking around for a suitable lump of debris he threw it into the centre of the corridor.
This however bought another thought to mind. This passage and stairway was far too large for the creature described to them to pass through yet this trap had obviously been triggered several times, which also meant it had needed to be reset on an equal number of occasions by something dexterous enough to do so.
This meant that either the Nosferatu had missed a lot more of the creations than they thought or there was something else going on here.
With little option other than returning to Gary they continued though Alonzo now moved ahead as it seemed he was familiar with the areas that they now entered...
To Be Continued in 'Becoming Baron' - Part Seven
In Conclusion
This was meant to be a simple case of Alonzo turning up, introducing himself as a friend of Henry which Daniel would back up and then they could head off to the sewers to meet Gary with their new friend in tow. Instead it took three hours for them to reach the point that was meant to be ten minutes in after the intro...
I guess the moral of this story is that it's possible to do to good a job of making your players paranoid. It also means that this particular adventure will take twice as long as I thought it would but at least I don't need to write any material for their journey through the warrens as that bit was already written...they just didn't get to do much of it, lol.
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, Hope is Deborah Ann Woll, Marie is Eva Greene, Henry Waters is Henry Caville and Isaac Abrams is Gary Oldman. 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.
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