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. Now with a barony of their own it's time to consolidate their position and then plan their next move.
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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. If you'd prefer a summary of each session rather than read everything then there's a more detailed link page HERE.
'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'
Story Three Continued - 'Becoming Baron' - Part Six, Seven and Eight
'Foothold LA' Chronicle
Solo Session - 'Hostile Takeover'
Story Four - 'Countdown' - Part One and Two
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. If you'd prefer a summary of each session rather than read everything then there's a more detailed link page HERE.
'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'
Story Three Continued - 'Becoming Baron' - Part Six, Seven and Eight
'Foothold LA' Chronicle
Solo Session - 'Hostile Takeover'
Story Four - 'Countdown' - Part One and Two
The PC's
Phil as Michael Tomassio - Toreador Baron of Pasadena
and Hope Romero - Gangrel Scourge
Tom as Johnny 'Roach' West - Malkavian Seneschal
and Marie - Clan Carna
Matt as Dr Daniel Matthews - Banu Haqim 'Fixer'
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
After successfully identifying and eliminating the threat of three of the kindred feeding without permission with the barony of Pasadena it just remained to find the fourth and see if he is also part of the problem of the increase in assaults and disappearances across Caltech and the surrounding area. There's also the small matter of the favour owed to the barons police contact in exchange for his releasing without charge several of Vins ladies of the night.
Scene Ten - The Fourth Poacher
Before retiring for the evening Hope and Daniel had hidden the poachers jeep in the cave in the hills previously used by the Nosferatu Alonzo which was now vacant. Conscious of driving a vehicle with three dead bodies in it across town they'd dumped those in a nearby sewer for later retrieval. As the bodies of the thin-bloods hadn't immediately began to atrophy Daniel concluded that they weren't particularly old kindred or that they were very close to human and it further occurred to him that he owed Marius's pet Nagajara three bodies as payment for an earlier debt to the Gangrel 'Fixer'.
Unknown to the others in his coterie Daniel was aware of a secondary entrance to Pisha's domain underneath the abandoned hospital that Marius used as an impromptu feeding hatch should he wish to avoid navigating the trap ridden route most were required to take. Being sure that the thinbloods were close enough to human to make a decent meal for the cannibal Pisha he disposed of them at the carefully concealed alternate entrance. He informed Marius that the previously agreed debt had been paid before meeting up with Hope to complete the remainder of their search for poaching kindred.
As they already had a starting point from the scent detected by hope's wolf the previous night it was decided to began their search at this logical point. Hope cut her hair and put on some make-up in order to change her appearance from the previous evening while Daniel used his abilities with the obfuscate discipline to make himself generic in appearance.
Hope once again put a collar and lead on the wolf which despite it's obvious irritation at the treatment did as her mistress commanded. Fortunately the trail was still fresh enough to follow though at certain points it faded when obscured by other scents overlapping it from the day to day activities on campus. After about half an hour it led them to another bar.
After loosely tying up her famulus and telling her to stay where she was, Hope entered the establishment and saw a man roughly answering the description given by the photographer Hugo chatting up two ladies at a table in one corner. Daniel also entered and found himself a spot near the bar with a good view of the comings and goings within. Hope having some basic aptitude with the discipline of Auspex was sure she could detect the man using some kind of discipline himself, (probably Presence) in order to draw the two ladies attention to him. As one girl left to use the toilet he seemed to step up his attempts at seduction on the remaining girl until he glanced in the direction of Daniel at the bar, at which point he excused himself and quickly left the bar and a slightly confused looking girl behind him alone at the table. Unsure how they'd been spotted they abandoned their lookout points and headed out after the target.
Though their prey had some skill at evasion and had gotten somewhat of a head-start his attempts at losing his pursuers was hampered by the wolves senses and the now fresh scent trail for it to follow. They eventually were led to some apartments off campus, specifically to a basement room in one of the blocks near an open area of parkland. The fact that this one room had been equipped with heavy-duty black-out style blinds was a pretty good sign that their quarry was within. After a brief planning session it was decided that Daniel would attempt to sneak in through the rear while Hope took the direct approach at the front door. This should leave no avenue for this final poacher to escape them.
The lock on the rear door was of decent quality but of little deterrent to one with Daniel's skills and he quickly and silently bypassed it before stealthily entering a dining room/kitchen area just as Hope began knocking vigorously on the front door. Their target walked pretty much straight into Daniel waiting in the rear as he attempted to escape via the rear exit. "I'd open the front door if I were you..." stated Daniel with weapons at the ready. The kindred raised his hands to indicate he had no weapons to hand and then opened the front door as instructed. He seemed to be a lot more reasonable than the three they'd been forced to execute the night before.
Hope explained that it was her job to ensure only those with permission hunted in Baron Michael's domain and that he was definitely not on the list of those who had introduced themselves. She would however give him a chance to explain himself before she and her fellow kindred Daniel decided upon an appropriate response. The kindred told them his name was Russell Giles or 'Rush' as he was more commonly referred to. He had no fixed domain but rather travelled from one place to another, feeding where he could and then moving on before any locals decided to deal with an uninvited guest.
Hope made it clear that had he asked first he may have been granted limited feeding rights but as it was the best he could expect now was to leave with his unlife intact. She also pointed out that one of the missing young ladies was kin to a less than happy werewolf who would be likely to react badly should she track him down. 'Rush' insisted that he had nothing to do with her disappearance as he fed by seduction and meant no long term harm to any of those upon which he sated his hunger. He claimed that after leaving the bar with her the other three kindred who had originally been speaking to her had threatened him and had led the young woman away. He suspected they had used some discipline of mind control on her as she didn't seem to struggle despite not wanting to leave. He was somewhat ashamed to admit that he'd filed the event under 'none of his business' due to the precariousness of his own position. He did however admit to following them to their haven so he knew were to avoid hunting in the future and that he would be happy to exchange such information in exchange for a positive ending to his current predicament.
Fairly convinced that they were being told the truth by the compliant Brujah seducer Hope indicated he should leave the city and that his cooperation and the offered address were enough for them to be lenient on this occasion. Thankful that he didn't have a fourth body to dispose of Daniel left with Hope to investigate the lair of the three kindred they'd disposed of the previous night.
Scene Eleven - The House at Highland Park
After some subtle ribbing of Hope about only letting Russell go because he was "A pretty face." the gangrel scourge indicated that the Banu Haqim should get moving with the statement "Punch it Chewie..." Fortunately Daniel was young enough to get the reference and was currently feeling somewhat more positive about Hope's ability to occasionally solve a problem without murdering everyone so did as he was asked.
Though the area they were travelling to had some good neighbourhoods the one they finally arrived at had at some point gone significantly downhill. The house the Brujah poacher 'Rush' had indicated was the haven of the dead thin-bloods was a run-down home on the end of a row of detached houses. Though Hope could detect no supernatural wards protecting the building that of course didn't preclude any more mundane defences.
The door lock posed no challenge to Daniel though given that this was possibly the former lair of the three violent kindred they'd dispatched he checked carefully for anything that might be construed as a trap but found nothing. As the home was quite far from the others in the street Hope decided to risk turning on the light so they had some idea of what was awaiting them, revealing what looked like a poorly maintained squat. As Hope looked around the ground floor, Daniel began to head upstairs noticing at the last minute a trip wire across the staircase. As he acrobatically leapt over the banister to land by Hope on the lower floor a spring-loaded piece of wood filled with blades and spikes flipped down at throat level where he'd been standing a moment earlier. The trap would have certainly decapitated any kindred or kine who had failed to notice it. Making a mental note to be more careful he ducked under the selection of blades and continued upstairs.
The upstairs of the home had blood on the floor and walls of all the rooms and some even had traces on the ceiling. Daniel's experiences as both doctor and kindred told to him that some of the blood traces were quite old indeed which seemed to indicate that this had been a base of operations for quite a while. A rusty scalpel and an old combat knife with a well maintained blade were protruding from a door frame where presumably they'd been left by one of the poachers. With no other information to be discovered he returned to the lower floor where Hope had located a basement entrance.
The basement light switch didn't work but wary of other traps Daniel went to retrieve his night vision goggles from the car, Hope was more than capable of seeing in the dark but nonetheless waited for the Banu Haqim to return.
Only the top few steps were intact and both the kindred present noticed that the majority of the middle section had been removed. Looking down into the gap they could see a wide variety of spikes, blades and sharpened pieces of wood had been attached to the floor or hammered through planks of wood which would have proven fatal for the unwary kine or kindred who missed their footing while travelling downward. Both Daniel and Hope easily covered the distance across the spiked trap and investigated the basement.
In one corner a girl was slumped and un-moving, bound by rope and attached to the wall by a length of chain. Daniel checked her vitals and concluded she wouldn't last much longer without medical help due to blood loss and injuries sustained from repeated physical abuse. Hope removed her restraints and the doctor carried her to the car. Here he saw yet another side to Hope's character as she comforted the injured girl showing a tenderness that surprised him. Conscious of the potential danger of exposing themselves to the authorities doctor Matthews picked a hospital he'd worked at many times and made up a story about the girl being a relative of a friend and that he wanted to keep her identity a secret for personal reasons. Though not as skilled a liar as some of the coterie he did however have enough knowledge about hospital procedures to know how far he could push his luck and the sympathetic nurse eventually agreed to his request.
Hope noticed that the girl wore a necklace with an unusual symbol on it which reminded her of a tattoo that the werewolf they'd met earlier during their search for poachers had on her arm. Once the girl had recovered enough to give her name she identified herself as Jane Miranda and when asked about the nickname 'Mirilla' confirmed that her family and a few friends referred to her by that moniker. Using the contact number they'd obtained after their tense first meeting had become more one of cooperation, she let Kiara know they'd located her missing kin and that she was being cared for by the member of her barons coterie that had been with her. Hope wished Mirilla her best and then left her in the doctor's capable hands until her family arrived.
The girls family were accompanied by Kiara and several rough looking individuals that Daniel was reasonably sure were also Garou given the looks they were giving him. Taking Kiara to one side he explained that three rogue kindred operating in their domain without permission were responsible for the attack on the young woman and that they had been dealt with in an appropriately permanent manner. He further explained that the fourth kindred hadn't been involved in the kidnap and imprisonment of her kin so had been ran off their turf. Murdering him hadn't been considered appropriate as he was in fact innocent of involvement. Kiara thanked them for their help and Daniel was reasonably sure that she wasn't happy to have to do so but seemed to have enough of a personal code to at least make the effort to sound grateful. Daniel also asked that should the meeting between her Don and his Baron ever occur that the terminal nature of their solution wouldn't sit well with their more humanitarian leader. Feeling that he'd pushed his luck enough for one night he bid his farewells and left the odd group of kin to their own devices.
With morning approaching he decided to sleep at the gallery during the day so he could make a proper report to Michael as soon as the coterie were awake after their daysleep.
Scene Twelve - Miss Myra Ross
Storytellers Note - A handout was given to Roach's player with the following information on it...he was then left by me to deal with the fact that no-one else had a clue about what he was on about...
Roach - Your have a meeting at Marius's tower this evening with your Camarilla contact to report on your progress with your mission to overturn the Free States. You're now not 100% sure how you know you have a meeting but you're positive you definitely do. You'll need Michael and Vin as they are part of the initial infiltration team though introducing Daniel might not be a bad idea considering how involved he is currently.
A slightly agitated Roach interrupted the tail end of Daniel's report to Michael into which Vin had been invited due to the security aspects of the situation. "What are you all doing in here? We have that meeting in fifty seven minutes..." He looked at the clock on the wall "...fifty six minutes...". Michael noticed that by the Malkavians usual standards he was dressed neatly and quite professionally though as was often the case Michael had absolutely no idea what he was talking about. He decided to start diplomatically. "What meeting is this exactly?"
"You know...THE meeting. To discuss what we're doing here for the person who sent us here of course. We need to get to Marius's tower and you lot aren't even ready. Get a move on...". Deciding that playing along was the best bet just in case there actually was an important meeting Michael told Vin and Daniel to get ready and meet Roach downstairs.
A few moments after they had gathered outside the distinctive supercharged taxi of the kindred transporter known simply as 'The Cabbie' arrived. Daniel attempted to get in the front passenger seat as Roach often did but found it locked so sat in the back instead. A moment later Roach opened the door and slid into the front despite their being no sign that the cabbie had unlocked it for him. Making excellent progress as every traffic light they reached appeared to be on green they soon arrived at Marius's place of business.
You make your way past the usual security and are met by Victoria in the lobby area of Marius's penthouse level. You can't help but notice that there's a lot more of Yukio's security people stationed around than you normally see. "We'll be using the executive meeting room today being as we have a special guest" It's very obvious from the way that Victoria emphasises the word 'special' that she doesn't seem to mean it.
Those of you who have been to the roof garden recognise the route along the side stairways but this time you stop on the floor below and are escorted to a doorway with a single guard in the form of Yukio. She's dressed in an expensive tailored suit that almost hides the custom body armour beneath it though she's made no effort to conceal the various holstered weapons around her person. Yukio holds open the door for you and you are let into a comfortable lobby area with expensive sofa's, elaborately carved tables in a somewhat Gothic style and the walls are decorated with excellent quality paintings. An elaborate set of double doors are in the opposite side of the room. "Wait here until your presence is requested. There are refreshments available, these things go better if no-one's hungry..." Victoria takes a seat on the opposite side of the room from you but shows no sign of paying you any further attention. One of the tables has several bottles of 'wine' on it one of which has a label around the neck.
Roach picked up the labelled bottle and found a note to himself attached to it. "For Roach, the donor had interesting recreational tastes enjoy, signed Marie". The blood within was indeed to his liking as the contents seemed to be filled with an extensive range of narcotics, blended perfectly with both the flavour of the wine and the resonance of the blood within. Some discussion about what exactly to expect went back and forth but the only thing of which Roach was certain was that the meeting had been arranged. The wine at least was nutritious enough so at least they'd enter the meeting as alert as was possible. As Roach began to get bored he began to think about a piece of Ska music he had recently heard and without thinking began to broadcast it to every-one else in the room as he inadvertently made eye-contact with each one.
Storytellers Note - Agreeing to let a Malkavian character take the fifth dot in Auspex for the Telepathy power may not have been my most popular move as a storyteller, lol.
After about twenty minutes the double doors open and the security guard come driver you know as Dion exits the room. He exchanges several glances across at Victoria as he crosses towards the exit and she returns the gaze. She seems to scratch her neck at one point but the gesture could also be vaguely interpreted as her miming a blade been drawn across a throat. "They should be ready for you now..."She gets up and swings open both doors in a somewhat theatrical gesture and beckons you within though makes no move to follow you.
Roach's attempt to transmit a fanfare into the mind of Victoria to coincide with her opening of the doors irritatingly failed as she closed her mind to him by force of will.
The centre of the room contains a long, oval, antique table with thirteen matching chairs around the outside. Along one wall is an almost full wine rack, each bottle is labelled with a tag wrapped around the neck with various coloured twine. Sitting at the head of the table is a slim woman who looks in her 20's in a plain but high quality dress. Standing at her shoulder is a gentleman of average height and build, with short hair who is currently pointedly staring at Marius who in complete disregard for etiquette has his feet on the table and despite there being glasses available is drinking direct from a bottle. Though the woman seems to be taking this in her stride, the man at her shoulder is obviously annoyed.
As they seated themselves Marius addressed them all "Gentlemen. This is Miss Myra Ross. She represents Fiorenza Savona as a liaison of sorts between those involved in delicate projects." His tone is measured and actually quite respectful. His tone then changes completely "...and the fuckwit standing by her, there's no need to learn the name of as I'll probably kill him in a bit for staring at me like I'm something he scraped off his shoe.." "Enjoy your meeting..." He than gets up and leaves. Michael could tell that Marius very obviously had at least some time for Myra though this may be due to her association with Fiorenza. The point he seemed to be making is that he'd have more respect for her if she hadn't bought this particular follower with her. All present also knew that his threats were rarely hyperbole so there was a very good chance he'd carry out his promise which begged another question of why Myra didn't seem particularly bothered about a threat against one of her entourage.
Roach scanned the room for magical wards with his mastery of Auspex and quickly concluded that this was one of the most extensively magically defended rooms he'd ever encountered. Turning up his heightened senses to maximum he was also positive that the room was conventionally shielded from surveillance as well as he could detect nothing from outside the room now that the doors had been closed behind Marius as he left. As Michael began to speak she raised her hand slightly to indicate she had something to say first.
Turning to her companion she gestured towards the door "I don't think your input in this meeting will be required. Should the gangrel intend to make good on his threat ensure you arrange my transportation out of the city before your final death.". His drop in confidence at the thought of being away from the protection of Miss Ross was obvious as he reluctantly left the meeting room. Myra raised her eyes briefly as if to indicate her exasperation and then continued. "Perhaps you'd like to summarise your progress so I can cross-reference it with our own information."
With the occasional prompt to the others to reinforce his point or elaborate on situations with which they were more familiar Michael spelled out their taking of one of the smaller baronies to get themselves a foot in the door politically as well as their consolidating of Pasadena's crime under themselves. He also broadly speaking told her of their plans to expand their legitimate business ventures and political connections. Miss Ross turned to face Daniel "Forgive me for speaking about you as if you're not here for a moment" before continuing addressing Michael. "How does your new recruit fit in?"
The Baron informed her that Daniel was like-minded and supportive of their overall goal and had helped them in a number of ways before he became a full member of their group. Myra then chose to address Vin, much to the others surprise "Your sire is highly regarded amongst the Camarilla so I'd value your opinion. Do you trust this Dr?". As Vin never spoke of his sire it was a considerable shock to the others that his bloodline was apparently so highly regarded. Vin's answer was as expected to the point. "I trust the good doctor, he's proven himself to us a number of times."
As no-one had mentioned it but in an attempt to be subtle Roach attempted to use his telepathy to inform Myra that there were in fact two other members of the coterie. As he reached out to her he felt a link to her via the mental network that linked all Malkavian's to one extent or another as she lifted the information directly from his mind. As she seemed to be portraying herself as a Ventrue rather than as of the bloodline of Malkav he kept this information about clan to himself. She continued "The fact that Daniel here was recommended to you by the 'Fixer' Marius brings me to another point."
"We do have some concerns. Specifically that currently half your kindred membership appears to be primarily loyal to the Autarkis Gangrel Marius and that this seemingly accounts for a two/thirds of your offensive attributes" "Though we used him as your gateway to Los Angeles as repayment of a boon we didn't foresee you becoming quite so entwined with him. He is...unpredictable..."
Michael countered with the argument that all kindred were unpredictable to one extent or another being blood drinking predators. Marius had allowed them to establish themselves but that all interactions with him had been business transactions paid for and completed. Broadly speaking they now owed him nothing and those operatives who worked for the barony of Pasadena were loyal to Michel and the ideals of his coterie, not the Gangrel who had initially recommended them.
Accepting this opinion none-committedly Myra moved onto what was apparently her final point. "It is usual for Fiorenza to maintain contact with her operatives through a mortal liaison to save having to arrange things such as this. Are you aware of one of Marius's staff named 'Dion'?". They agreed that they did and Michael braced himself for what he was sure was about to follow. "He has been less useful than we would have liked in this role within the Gangrel's organisation but were sure that he will excel in the organisation of another, such as yourselves for example..."
Knowing that this could cause them problems and aware that an outright refusal could also be problematic the Toreador asked for some time to discuss the matter with his coterie. With this Miss Ross picked up the half filled bottle at her side along with a glass and promptly left them alone to discuss just how they were going to deal with the issue.
The fact that they were effectively being asked to have a spy in their midst wasn't lost on any of them but the consequences of refusal might not be particularly pleasant either. Roach's main objection was that they'd no doubt be expected to also ensure the safety of this spy and given that he'd obviously annoyed Victoria at some point the chances of him being found at a later date skinned alive were fairly high. They were all of the opinion that they had no need of a liaison though it was pointed out that a mortal operative who knew about kindred did save a lot of messing about coming up with explanations for unusual activities.
Eventually they concluded that they had to except Dion but that they would put him in a position where he only had basic access to their operations so couldn't report anything they wished to keep to themselves. Roach prompted Vin to go and fetch Fiorenza Savona's messenger so they could relay their limited agreement to her proposal.
Answers to a few more questions were needed before they fully committed, specifically why Dion wasn't needed any longer within the organisation of Marius? "Dion has a family, a wife and daughter specifically that Victoria had discovered the location of. It seems that Dion had been made aware that if any information not cleared first with the ghoul made it's way to us that they would be hideously defiled before being tortured to death."
She paused a moment but judging from the reactions of the coterie she could see that none were surprised about the revelation regarding Victoria's little 'hobbies'. Roach's statement "She's a fucking Bitch" conformed this opinion. Myra continued "They have now been relocated but as she found them once, she could do so again. Besides which he has enough methods of concealing his activities that a mortal spy, even a ghoul is insufficient anyway." With the matter now decided, Michael took responsibility for Dion and the two groups parted ways.
Storytellers Note - I asked who was taking responsibility for Dion as they were given the first dot in Fiorenza Savona's loresheet. Technically this is a 3xp freebie but it causes more issues than it's benefits in this case and i was fine with that...
Interlude - Plans Within Plans
Miss Myra Ross sat on a stone bench on Marius's roof garden drinking a glass of wine as the Gangrel appeared and stood opposite her. "Why the charade Myra? I've wanted to kill that prick for over a century...you could have just asked..." Myra gave him a smile which she was particularly proud of as she'd been practising it for a while and was beginning to get the hang of them. "He was inflicted upon me and for political reasons I couldn't just have him killed..." She paused and refilled her glass from the nearby bottle "...However the notoriously erratic Gangrel Fixer could kill him on a whim and of course I'd be powerless to prevent it, especially if I could justify him having bought it on himself."
She smiled again but wasn't as pleased with this one so decided she'd get in a bit more practice. She'd got the hang of 'sad' and 'angry' but 'cheerful' was becoming a bit of a chore to get just right. "So now he's gone I can move one of my own people back into the role and blame you. His allies aren't powerful enough to risk retaliating against you and Fiorenza has too much clout for them to blame her. It's as close to a 'win/win' as kindred politics gets." Marius gave a brief nod of acknowledgement of the simple but effective ploy. "You were a bit vague about your price though, 'Fixer'. 'Information' covers a wide range of sins." Marius paused for a moment before saying the name "Yuki Onna".
"Ah..." said Myra, as certain things became clearer "...your one failure...". The Malkavian was rewarded with the rare sight of a genuine emotional reaction from Marius before he quickly composed himself. Myra used the brief moment of uncertainty to bypass the cloak disguising the Gangrel's aura hoping that the headache she now had was worth the price of confirming Fiorenza's suspicion using the information she had been provided.
"You credit me too much Myra. I'd failed several times in Xaviar's service, this was just the one that nearly ended my unlife." Myra ignored the insincere false modesty. "I just need to know what information you have on her, I've already checked the Neillson library and there's basically bugger all in there. Curiosity about an old foe you might say..."
"I'll see what I can do." Was Myra's only response as she made another attempt at the smile that had eluded her the second time. Judging from Marius's smile in response she'd nailed it on this occasion, or perhaps he was also just practising she mused.
Meanwhile with their spy issue resolved at least the coterie now needed to look into their police contacts little problem in order to maintain their good relationship with this new resource.
To Be Continued in 'The Missing Chantry' Part One
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...
Another successful session though the meeting with Myra didn't go anything like I expected. I was more or less expecting them to tow the line and then try and get as much information out of her as they could. Instead I basically got "We're doing fine on our own, fuck off..." Still at least it meant they left the meeting with a lot less information than they could have had so that'll bite them all firmly on the arse later...
They role-played their objections to being spied on and second guessed rather well though so I won't punish them too much.
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, Marius Walker is Tony Curran and Victoria is Lilith May. 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.
Scene Ten - The Fourth Poacher
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| Pisha - Nagaraja Necromancer |
Unknown to the others in his coterie Daniel was aware of a secondary entrance to Pisha's domain underneath the abandoned hospital that Marius used as an impromptu feeding hatch should he wish to avoid navigating the trap ridden route most were required to take. Being sure that the thinbloods were close enough to human to make a decent meal for the cannibal Pisha he disposed of them at the carefully concealed alternate entrance. He informed Marius that the previously agreed debt had been paid before meeting up with Hope to complete the remainder of their search for poaching kindred.
As they already had a starting point from the scent detected by hope's wolf the previous night it was decided to began their search at this logical point. Hope cut her hair and put on some make-up in order to change her appearance from the previous evening while Daniel used his abilities with the obfuscate discipline to make himself generic in appearance.
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| Hope's Famulus - Hermanita |
After loosely tying up her famulus and telling her to stay where she was, Hope entered the establishment and saw a man roughly answering the description given by the photographer Hugo chatting up two ladies at a table in one corner. Daniel also entered and found himself a spot near the bar with a good view of the comings and goings within. Hope having some basic aptitude with the discipline of Auspex was sure she could detect the man using some kind of discipline himself, (probably Presence) in order to draw the two ladies attention to him. As one girl left to use the toilet he seemed to step up his attempts at seduction on the remaining girl until he glanced in the direction of Daniel at the bar, at which point he excused himself and quickly left the bar and a slightly confused looking girl behind him alone at the table. Unsure how they'd been spotted they abandoned their lookout points and headed out after the target.
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| Dr Daniel Matthews - Banu Haqim |
The lock on the rear door was of decent quality but of little deterrent to one with Daniel's skills and he quickly and silently bypassed it before stealthily entering a dining room/kitchen area just as Hope began knocking vigorously on the front door. Their target walked pretty much straight into Daniel waiting in the rear as he attempted to escape via the rear exit. "I'd open the front door if I were you..." stated Daniel with weapons at the ready. The kindred raised his hands to indicate he had no weapons to hand and then opened the front door as instructed. He seemed to be a lot more reasonable than the three they'd been forced to execute the night before.
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| Russell 'Rush' Giles - Brujah Poacher |
Hope made it clear that had he asked first he may have been granted limited feeding rights but as it was the best he could expect now was to leave with his unlife intact. She also pointed out that one of the missing young ladies was kin to a less than happy werewolf who would be likely to react badly should she track him down. 'Rush' insisted that he had nothing to do with her disappearance as he fed by seduction and meant no long term harm to any of those upon which he sated his hunger. He claimed that after leaving the bar with her the other three kindred who had originally been speaking to her had threatened him and had led the young woman away. He suspected they had used some discipline of mind control on her as she didn't seem to struggle despite not wanting to leave. He was somewhat ashamed to admit that he'd filed the event under 'none of his business' due to the precariousness of his own position. He did however admit to following them to their haven so he knew were to avoid hunting in the future and that he would be happy to exchange such information in exchange for a positive ending to his current predicament.
Fairly convinced that they were being told the truth by the compliant Brujah seducer Hope indicated he should leave the city and that his cooperation and the offered address were enough for them to be lenient on this occasion. Thankful that he didn't have a fourth body to dispose of Daniel left with Hope to investigate the lair of the three kindred they'd disposed of the previous night.
Scene Eleven - The House at Highland Park
Though the area they were travelling to had some good neighbourhoods the one they finally arrived at had at some point gone significantly downhill. The house the Brujah poacher 'Rush' had indicated was the haven of the dead thin-bloods was a run-down home on the end of a row of detached houses. Though Hope could detect no supernatural wards protecting the building that of course didn't preclude any more mundane defences.
The upstairs of the home had blood on the floor and walls of all the rooms and some even had traces on the ceiling. Daniel's experiences as both doctor and kindred told to him that some of the blood traces were quite old indeed which seemed to indicate that this had been a base of operations for quite a while. A rusty scalpel and an old combat knife with a well maintained blade were protruding from a door frame where presumably they'd been left by one of the poachers. With no other information to be discovered he returned to the lower floor where Hope had located a basement entrance.
The basement light switch didn't work but wary of other traps Daniel went to retrieve his night vision goggles from the car, Hope was more than capable of seeing in the dark but nonetheless waited for the Banu Haqim to return.
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| Basement Prisoner - Mirilla? |
In one corner a girl was slumped and un-moving, bound by rope and attached to the wall by a length of chain. Daniel checked her vitals and concluded she wouldn't last much longer without medical help due to blood loss and injuries sustained from repeated physical abuse. Hope removed her restraints and the doctor carried her to the car. Here he saw yet another side to Hope's character as she comforted the injured girl showing a tenderness that surprised him. Conscious of the potential danger of exposing themselves to the authorities doctor Matthews picked a hospital he'd worked at many times and made up a story about the girl being a relative of a friend and that he wanted to keep her identity a secret for personal reasons. Though not as skilled a liar as some of the coterie he did however have enough knowledge about hospital procedures to know how far he could push his luck and the sympathetic nurse eventually agreed to his request.
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| Glass Walkers Tribal Symbol |
The girls family were accompanied by Kiara and several rough looking individuals that Daniel was reasonably sure were also Garou given the looks they were giving him. Taking Kiara to one side he explained that three rogue kindred operating in their domain without permission were responsible for the attack on the young woman and that they had been dealt with in an appropriately permanent manner. He further explained that the fourth kindred hadn't been involved in the kidnap and imprisonment of her kin so had been ran off their turf. Murdering him hadn't been considered appropriate as he was in fact innocent of involvement. Kiara thanked them for their help and Daniel was reasonably sure that she wasn't happy to have to do so but seemed to have enough of a personal code to at least make the effort to sound grateful. Daniel also asked that should the meeting between her Don and his Baron ever occur that the terminal nature of their solution wouldn't sit well with their more humanitarian leader. Feeling that he'd pushed his luck enough for one night he bid his farewells and left the odd group of kin to their own devices.
With morning approaching he decided to sleep at the gallery during the day so he could make a proper report to Michael as soon as the coterie were awake after their daysleep.
Scene Twelve - Miss Myra Ross
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| Roach - Malkavian Seneschal |
Roach - Your have a meeting at Marius's tower this evening with your Camarilla contact to report on your progress with your mission to overturn the Free States. You're now not 100% sure how you know you have a meeting but you're positive you definitely do. You'll need Michael and Vin as they are part of the initial infiltration team though introducing Daniel might not be a bad idea considering how involved he is currently.
A slightly agitated Roach interrupted the tail end of Daniel's report to Michael into which Vin had been invited due to the security aspects of the situation. "What are you all doing in here? We have that meeting in fifty seven minutes..." He looked at the clock on the wall "...fifty six minutes...". Michael noticed that by the Malkavians usual standards he was dressed neatly and quite professionally though as was often the case Michael had absolutely no idea what he was talking about. He decided to start diplomatically. "What meeting is this exactly?"
"You know...THE meeting. To discuss what we're doing here for the person who sent us here of course. We need to get to Marius's tower and you lot aren't even ready. Get a move on...". Deciding that playing along was the best bet just in case there actually was an important meeting Michael told Vin and Daniel to get ready and meet Roach downstairs.
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| 'The Cabbie' - Kindred Transporter |
You make your way past the usual security and are met by Victoria in the lobby area of Marius's penthouse level. You can't help but notice that there's a lot more of Yukio's security people stationed around than you normally see. "We'll be using the executive meeting room today being as we have a special guest" It's very obvious from the way that Victoria emphasises the word 'special' that she doesn't seem to mean it.
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| Yukio - Ghoul of Marius Bodyguard and Assassin |
Roach picked up the labelled bottle and found a note to himself attached to it. "For Roach, the donor had interesting recreational tastes enjoy, signed Marie". The blood within was indeed to his liking as the contents seemed to be filled with an extensive range of narcotics, blended perfectly with both the flavour of the wine and the resonance of the blood within. Some discussion about what exactly to expect went back and forth but the only thing of which Roach was certain was that the meeting had been arranged. The wine at least was nutritious enough so at least they'd enter the meeting as alert as was possible. As Roach began to get bored he began to think about a piece of Ska music he had recently heard and without thinking began to broadcast it to every-one else in the room as he inadvertently made eye-contact with each one.
Storytellers Note - Agreeing to let a Malkavian character take the fifth dot in Auspex for the Telepathy power may not have been my most popular move as a storyteller, lol.
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| Dion - Security Guard and Driver |
Roach's attempt to transmit a fanfare into the mind of Victoria to coincide with her opening of the doors irritatingly failed as she closed her mind to him by force of will.
The centre of the room contains a long, oval, antique table with thirteen matching chairs around the outside. Along one wall is an almost full wine rack, each bottle is labelled with a tag wrapped around the neck with various coloured twine. Sitting at the head of the table is a slim woman who looks in her 20's in a plain but high quality dress. Standing at her shoulder is a gentleman of average height and build, with short hair who is currently pointedly staring at Marius who in complete disregard for etiquette has his feet on the table and despite there being glasses available is drinking direct from a bottle. Though the woman seems to be taking this in her stride, the man at her shoulder is obviously annoyed.
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| Miss Myra Ross - Ventrue Liaison to Fiorenza Savona |
Roach scanned the room for magical wards with his mastery of Auspex and quickly concluded that this was one of the most extensively magically defended rooms he'd ever encountered. Turning up his heightened senses to maximum he was also positive that the room was conventionally shielded from surveillance as well as he could detect nothing from outside the room now that the doors had been closed behind Marius as he left. As Michael began to speak she raised her hand slightly to indicate she had something to say first.
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| Michael Tomassio - Baron of Pasadena Not happy at being questioned... |
With the occasional prompt to the others to reinforce his point or elaborate on situations with which they were more familiar Michael spelled out their taking of one of the smaller baronies to get themselves a foot in the door politically as well as their consolidating of Pasadena's crime under themselves. He also broadly speaking told her of their plans to expand their legitimate business ventures and political connections. Miss Ross turned to face Daniel "Forgive me for speaking about you as if you're not here for a moment" before continuing addressing Michael. "How does your new recruit fit in?"
The Baron informed her that Daniel was like-minded and supportive of their overall goal and had helped them in a number of ways before he became a full member of their group. Myra then chose to address Vin, much to the others surprise "Your sire is highly regarded amongst the Camarilla so I'd value your opinion. Do you trust this Dr?". As Vin never spoke of his sire it was a considerable shock to the others that his bloodline was apparently so highly regarded. Vin's answer was as expected to the point. "I trust the good doctor, he's proven himself to us a number of times."
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| Marius Walker - Autarkis Gangrel 'Fixer' |
"We do have some concerns. Specifically that currently half your kindred membership appears to be primarily loyal to the Autarkis Gangrel Marius and that this seemingly accounts for a two/thirds of your offensive attributes" "Though we used him as your gateway to Los Angeles as repayment of a boon we didn't foresee you becoming quite so entwined with him. He is...unpredictable..."
Michael countered with the argument that all kindred were unpredictable to one extent or another being blood drinking predators. Marius had allowed them to establish themselves but that all interactions with him had been business transactions paid for and completed. Broadly speaking they now owed him nothing and those operatives who worked for the barony of Pasadena were loyal to Michel and the ideals of his coterie, not the Gangrel who had initially recommended them.
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| Fiorenza Savona 'New Money' Ventrue |
Knowing that this could cause them problems and aware that an outright refusal could also be problematic the Toreador asked for some time to discuss the matter with his coterie. With this Miss Ross picked up the half filled bottle at her side along with a glass and promptly left them alone to discuss just how they were going to deal with the issue.
The fact that they were effectively being asked to have a spy in their midst wasn't lost on any of them but the consequences of refusal might not be particularly pleasant either. Roach's main objection was that they'd no doubt be expected to also ensure the safety of this spy and given that he'd obviously annoyed Victoria at some point the chances of him being found at a later date skinned alive were fairly high. They were all of the opinion that they had no need of a liaison though it was pointed out that a mortal operative who knew about kindred did save a lot of messing about coming up with explanations for unusual activities.
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| Victoria Anne - Ghoul of Marius Personal Assistant and Sadist |
Answers to a few more questions were needed before they fully committed, specifically why Dion wasn't needed any longer within the organisation of Marius? "Dion has a family, a wife and daughter specifically that Victoria had discovered the location of. It seems that Dion had been made aware that if any information not cleared first with the ghoul made it's way to us that they would be hideously defiled before being tortured to death."
She paused a moment but judging from the reactions of the coterie she could see that none were surprised about the revelation regarding Victoria's little 'hobbies'. Roach's statement "She's a fucking Bitch" conformed this opinion. Myra continued "They have now been relocated but as she found them once, she could do so again. Besides which he has enough methods of concealing his activities that a mortal spy, even a ghoul is insufficient anyway." With the matter now decided, Michael took responsibility for Dion and the two groups parted ways.
Storytellers Note - I asked who was taking responsibility for Dion as they were given the first dot in Fiorenza Savona's loresheet. Technically this is a 3xp freebie but it causes more issues than it's benefits in this case and i was fine with that...
Interlude - Plans Within Plans
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| Marius's Roof Garden |
She smiled again but wasn't as pleased with this one so decided she'd get in a bit more practice. She'd got the hang of 'sad' and 'angry' but 'cheerful' was becoming a bit of a chore to get just right. "So now he's gone I can move one of my own people back into the role and blame you. His allies aren't powerful enough to risk retaliating against you and Fiorenza has too much clout for them to blame her. It's as close to a 'win/win' as kindred politics gets." Marius gave a brief nod of acknowledgement of the simple but effective ploy. "You were a bit vague about your price though, 'Fixer'. 'Information' covers a wide range of sins." Marius paused for a moment before saying the name "Yuki Onna".
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| Xavier - Gangrel (Deceased) Former Justicar of the Camarilla |
"You credit me too much Myra. I'd failed several times in Xaviar's service, this was just the one that nearly ended my unlife." Myra ignored the insincere false modesty. "I just need to know what information you have on her, I've already checked the Neillson library and there's basically bugger all in there. Curiosity about an old foe you might say..."
"I'll see what I can do." Was Myra's only response as she made another attempt at the smile that had eluded her the second time. Judging from Marius's smile in response she'd nailed it on this occasion, or perhaps he was also just practising she mused.
Meanwhile with their spy issue resolved at least the coterie now needed to look into their police contacts little problem in order to maintain their good relationship with this new resource.
To Be Continued in 'The Missing Chantry' Part One
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...Another successful session though the meeting with Myra didn't go anything like I expected. I was more or less expecting them to tow the line and then try and get as much information out of her as they could. Instead I basically got "We're doing fine on our own, fuck off..." Still at least it meant they left the meeting with a lot less information than they could have had so that'll bite them all firmly on the arse later...
They role-played their objections to being spied on and second guessed rather well though so I won't punish them too much.
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, Marius Walker is Tony Curran and Victoria is Lilith May. 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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