Vampire the Masquerade V5 - Session Thirty Nine - Blood Money (Part Two)

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

Our campaign is set in Los Angeles and features a small group of Camarilla agents sent into the 'Free States' to search for ways to once again bring the Ivory Tower to dominance under the pretence of being disillusioned neonates looking for the freedom of the Anarch way of life. 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 as well as links to the first episode of each story in the blog sidebar.
'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, Two and Three
Story Five - 'The Missing Chantry' - Part One, Two, Three, Four and Five
Solo Session - 'The Anaheim Assassination'
Story Six - 'A Meeting of Barons' - Part One, Two and Three
Story Seven - 'The Carmelita Situation' - Part One, Two and Three
Story Eight - 'The Blount Sisters' - Part One and Two
Story Nine - 'Blood Money' - Part One

The PC's
Player controlled characters
Michael Tomassio - Toreador, Baron of Pasadena
Vincent 'Vin' Ghast - Brujah, Sheriff
Dr Daniel Matthews - Banu Haqim, 'Fixer'
Hope Romero - Gangrel, Scourge
Mr Hertz - Nosferatu, Mob Accountant
The SPC's
Storyteller controlled player allies
Johnny 'Roach' West - Malkavian, Seneschal
Marie - Clan Carna, Occult Advisor

The player characters stats and backgrounds can be found HERE should any-one be interested. There's also some minor 'house-rules' HERE that have occurred as we went along.

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. Anything covered via player handouts will also be in blue as they're written in the same style as introductions and the like. Where particular NPC's have a mention in a faction profile you will be able to reach it by clicking on their name beneath their picture.

Pre-Session Player Handouts
At the start of certain sessions I distribute local news reports and information relevant to certain individuals. Some relate to previous sessions, others are things going on that the players may or may not wish to investigate or involve themselves in. Others of course are complete bollocks...

Introduction

'Glaze' Nightclub

Fiorenza Savona, the Ventrue who is overseeing their project to take Los Angeles from within has 'requested' that the coterie assist one of her operatives with his mission to retrieve thirty million dollars embezzled from Camarilla accounts. Mr Hertz has gone as far as he can himself as being of the Nosferatu clan he is ill-equipped to deal with some of the social interactions needed to continue with the investigation which his employer had hoped could be dealt with 'hands-off'.

The coterie are currently following a number of leads, one of which has led them to the exclusive 'Glaze' nightclub in Chinatown where Michael is providing a distraction while Daniel infiltrates the security office. Unfortunately they have failed to make a particularly thorough check into who exactly owns the club they're infiltrating...

Storytellers Note - You might want to read the first part of this story which can be found HERE so the first bit makes sense. It's not essential but it will help.

Scene Six - A Near Miss

Yukio - Ghoul of Marius
"What are you doing here?"

Daniel caught a glimpse of movement out of the corner of his eye as a heavy bladed Chinese sword stopped a few inches from his neck. "It's a good job you have a distinctive walk, when sneaking about Daniel..." Said Yukio, Marius's second favourite ghoul and chief enforcer and assassin. "...or I'd have removed your head from your shoulders." Yukio lowered the sword and slid it into a scabbard before sliding her coat back over it. Daniel noted a suppressed Heckler and Koch MP7A1 was strapped to her thigh in a multi-purpose holster before it too was covered by her long coat.

"I'm glad I'm so distinctive..." replied Daniel "What are you doing here?" The Banu Haqim was sure he knew the answer and was already trying to work out the best way of minimising any fallout from his presence. "It's one of Marius's clubs and I'm doing a quick security check. Venus wasn't happy with some aspects of it and wanted a second opinion. Your turn..." Deciding that honesty was probably the best policy he explained that they were investigating an embezzler who had been traced to the club and that he had been hoping to use the security footage to get a look at them and see if they could find any useful intelligence.

Glaze Nightclub - Security Room

"I don't suppose it occurred to you to just ask the bar staff did it?" Stated Yukio somewhat sarcastically. "Fine, I'll see what I can do, follow me..." Already running through the conversation he was going to have to have with Michael, he sighed and did as he was asked. Yukio used an electronic fob to open the door to the security office and told the three guards within to wait outside.

Daniel noted that they all had the look of ex-military which Marius seemed to favour as security personnel and it was well known that he paid well above the going rate to ensure he had the best in even the most mundane security roles. "You have an approximate time I hope?" asked Yukio "Or this is going to take fucking ages..." Fortunately Mr Hertz had been very thorough and had provided exact times and dates for all the transactions utilising the now cancelled card used within the club. While Yukio searched through the stored security footage for the appropriate times, Daniel habitually made a note of the security room looking for holes to exploit.

Suspected Blood Doll
of Marcel Emery

Disappointingly but also unsurprisingly the camera's within were high quality and seemed to cover every part of the club both inside and out and the security men all seemed professional and observant though he imagined the one he'd snuck past was probably going to get in trouble. His observations were interrupted by Yukio. "This is them, they appear at the tills at all the times specified."

The embezzler matched the description of Marcel Emery which was no big surprise though of interest was the fact that he was accompanied each time by an attractive native american woman. "Any chance I can have this footage?" requested Daniel, pushing his luck a bit. "No, you bloody well can't...I suppose you can take a picture of the footage though..." Daniel accepted the compromise as the picture was excellent quality so even a picture of a picture would give him a good likeness of the woman accompanying their suspect. He was also in no real position to argue. "I'll escort you out, now..."  Daniel was sure it wasn't a question. "...also it might be an idea to do a bit more research before sneaking about random locations..." The tone was conversational but there was a definite edge to it. "...You're playing a Brujah and that's fine but we know what clan you're really from and a Banu Haqim sneaking around a kindred's place of business while armed could be misinterpreted. I like you so I'd really like to avoid the situation where I'm told to kill you..."

Daniel had little to no fear from mortals, even ghouls but Yukio was a different matter. Some of the references Michael had picked up when talking to her, combined with the age of certain original items in her rooms had put his estimate of her age at anything between one hundred and fifty, to double that or more. That had given her quite a lot of time to get good at killing things and combined with his and Daniel's other suspicions about the age of Marius and the effects that potent vitae might have on a ghouls abilities put her on a different level of dangerous. Daniel had also seen what weapons she had access to due to Marius's wealth and military contacts.

Yukio - Ghoul of Marius
"I'll give it some thought..."

"It seems like a terrible time to ask this given the circumstances, but..." Yukio looked sideways at him with some curiosity. "...I need some-one to help perfect my sword skills and you're the best I know of." The sincere request broke the tension a little and Marius's assassin laughed out loud. "I'll give it some thought." was the reply as the door to the VIP area was opened and Daniel was shown back to the upper floor. He made his way back to the handsome and charismatic Michael who was busy buying drinks for most of the floor and had amassed a considerable flock of toadying sycophants. "Michael, we really need to talk..."

Storytellers Note - I do profiles of important factions in the chronicle which apparently my players don't read as Glaze has been listed as one of Marius's businesses since the Aegis Acquisitions one I posted in November last year, lol.

Marius Walker - 'Boardroom' Gangrel and Entrepreneur

"Well that's just wonderful!!! Does Marius own fucking everything in LA?" Daniel explained to the exasperated Michael that Yukio had told him that this was one of three clubs that were ran for him by Venus Dare and that it wasn't really a secret if they'd have done a little research first for which lapse Daniel took responsibility. "Did we gain anything other than a pissed off Gangrel fixer?" was the reasonable next question. Daniel showed him the picture of their prey and the woman he was with that he'd acquired from the security footage. "She might be easier to find than Marcel. She's quite memorable..." Michael who had an eye for beauty had to admit that her features were symmetrical and were essentially perfect, at least from a 'golden ratio' point of view and he had to agree with Daniel's assessment that any who saw her would probably remember doing so. He also saw the wisdom in Yukio's suggestion of just asking the bar staff if they'd seen them.

"It's a tip...not a bribe..."

Storytellers Note - This isn't entirely the players fault as if you've read my previous stories I do tend to throw in plot twists and complications a lot so I may have trained them to default to presuming everything is going to be really tricky...

The barman who had been receiving substantial tips all evening was more than happy to help with their enquires and did in fact remember the "Pretty, blonde guy." and that he was a big tipper who had gotten some attention from the ladies but had seemed surprisingly uninterested in them. He also revealed that he was hitting on a native american woman that used the club and they had been seen together quite regularly up until a few weeks ago and that he had shown interest only in her. Michael asked to be informed if she came back to the club using the excuse that he thought she'd be an excellent subject for a portrait, handing over his business card and another healthy tip. They then continued the party for long enough to maintain their original charade before returning to the gallery.

Consolidated Chantry
of Los Angeles

After dropping off all but the coterie members Michael and Daniel discussed what they had discovered and how to deal with the complications they'd created. Michael was sure that they could trace such a beautiful woman even in such a place as Los Angeles but was also concerned that Marius would be upset about them effectively breaking into his place of business. The Barons and de-facto barons of the territories near to the newly inhabited Tremere Chantry had recently met to discuss the issue of Camarilla loyalists in the city. Several of those there had deliberately excluded Marius from the debate, but invited Michael, and since then their relationship had become a little frosty despite (as Michael pointed out) the initial arrangements not involving Michael at all.

Once he was back in his office, Michael braced himself for the inevitable political hoops he was about to be forced to jump through but delegated the call to Daniel instead who had a somewhat better relationship with Marius than he did.

Instead the call was answered by the 'Fixers' ghoul Victoria which if anything was often worse. The tone was cold even by Victoria's impressive ability to make people feel uncomfortable. "Yukio tells me that you and some friends had a little outing?" Daniel apologised for the "grave error" assuring her that had he known of the clubs ownership he would have certainly asked for permission before taking any action.

Victoria - Ghoul of Marius
PA and Psychopath

"The issue, Daniel is that a camouflaged Banu Haqim assassin sneaking towards a security room could easily be interpreted in a variety of ways and some of those ways could get you killed...permanently in your case."

Daniel took responsibility for the error and offered to make his apologies to Marius directly. Victoria's response was a little surprising however.

"I would advise against that, In fact I think it best if neither of us mention the matter to him at all and I have made Yukio aware that is the action we will take. He is unusually preoccupied with important matters at the moment and so would likely take the most direct and least time consuming action to ensure that this could never happen again."

Daniel was sure that he knew what the solution would be but was curious about why the Boardroom Gangrel was so busy. Deciding that he couldn't get in more trouble than he was already in he decided to push his look and ask if he could also have a look at the footage from the cameras at Galze pointed at the car-park.

"I'll see what I can do once you give me a full and detailed account of just exactly what you were up to..." The Banu Haqim gave as full account as he could and Victoria said she'd look into the footage for him before abruptly hanging up.

With the night almost exhausted the coterie retired for the day.

Interlude One - A Glitch

Andrew Francis - Ghoul
Daniel's Investigator

Daniel's investigator Andrew had called in several favours with his 'Hacker' friend and got himself the false credentials necessary to investigate the bank to compliment the paperwork obtained for him by Michael's pet police Lieutenant. He discovered that the account had been looked at twice, once when the forty thousand dollars was withdrawn and a second time when some-one came to check the balance a day later.

The withdrawal was quite clearly carried out by Marcel Emery who had all the identification necessary to utilise the account. The later balance enquiry was carried out by a woman who inexplicably no-one can adequately describe other than in broad and generic manner. The security footage of her via automated surveillance had glitched alarmingly and it was impossible to identify her at all.

At this point the manager had begun to get suspicious so the investigator made his goodbyes and left. Daniel and Mr Hertz were familiar enough with the supernatural disciplines of stealth to know that this took considerable ability as normally electronic security footage was unaffected by such powers at lower levels of skill.

The bank had been visited by Marcel early evening on the one night the bank opened late. The female visitor however had requested that the bank opened late especially for her and her request had been granted despite no-one now being quite sure who she was. All present immediately suspected that their minds had been dominated.

Interlude Two - A Favour for Gloria

Gloria Martinez - Brujah
Baron of Whittier

Gloria Martinez, Baron of Whittier has communicate with you via a messenger requesting that you repay one of the trivial boons accumulated by her allowing you to ship drugs through her territory. She requires a number of girls to be provided to entertain a local dignitary but she wishes this done outside of her own territory to minimise the chance of any embarrassing discoveries.

It's a relatively simple task and you have been assured that his tastes in the area of companionship and chemical assistance are mundane. His name is Andrei Foley a mortal, political fixer for the wealthy however his relationship with Miss Martinez is unknown.

Some investigation of their own revealed that Andrei was a mortal political 'fixer' for the wealthy. It seemed likely that Gloria indulged his baser appetites in return for him providing her with information on his customers which she then used to her advantage.

Further digging made it evident that she used different locations so that Mr Foley didn't become a victim of his own methods and subsequently become useless as a resource. Given their control of both the sex and drugs trades throughout Pasadena this was a simple matter to arrange and Michael indicated that it would be a matter he'd sort as soon as he could.

Scene Seven - Geduld Logistics

David Geduld - Ventrue
Baron of Torrance

Finding the location of the main offices of the port authorities within the docks was fairly simple and navigating your way there was childs-play to one with your skill set, however as you reach the area itself you begin to come across some actual security measures.

Locating the specific headquarters of Geduld Logistics was also reasonably simple with it being a legitimate company and David Geduld being as far as the world was concerned an entirely normal businessman.

In fact Daniel had recently had his own investigators and their hacker contacts dig into David Geduld's background and despite him most definitely being the kindred Baron of Torrance, he was on paper an entirely legitimate businessman whose logistics businesses encompassed much of the Port of Los Angeles and associated industries such as warehousing, trucking, delivery services, etc.

Digger further yielded absolutely nothing. Mr Geduld had a birth certificate, social security number, presence on social media and his companies had passed every inspection with flying colours. It was the opinion of Andrew's hacker friend that if there was something suspect about this man then it's been hidden by some-one with access to government level contacts or equipment, possibly both. He was to all intents and purposes completely and utterly 'clean'. Aware that the port would have both private and official security operatives in attendance, Daniel also sent his ghoul Keith to lurk about nearby disguised as a bum in case he needed any backup.

Los Angeles Dockyard at Night

Navigating his way stealthily across the vast dockyard he reached an area where several logistics offices were based one of which was where the records of the various ships managed by Geduld's companies were stored.

Guard patrols have increased considerably and consist of both private security and actual officers of the law and the security cameras are more frequently located. The office you are looking for is within a small secured complex ahead. A security guard is leaning by the gate smoking a cigarette somewhat conspicuously under a no smoking sign. As he finishes the cigarette he immediately lights another, he shows no sign of leaving any time soon.

Daniel had been expecting something more substantial but found a fairly basic building made from prefabricated units, surrounded by a fairly ordinary looking chain-link fence. The only slightly odd thing was that none of the dockyard security cameras were pointing at the building. This was of course a gift to Daniel but did mean there was no way of tracking the comings and goings to the office itself which was presumably the intention.

Chain-smoking Security Guard - Kindred

A brief perimeter sweep indicated no movement from within and just the single guard by the gate within the fence that was placed almost opposite the main entrance. There was however also a side door which Daniel intended to utilise instead once he'd ascertained if the guard was mortal or something more dangerous. As he made one more loop around the structure he drew on his vitae to create an illusion around himself and as he rounded the final corner he looked to all intents and purposes like a generic dock-worker. The guard was smoking yet another cigarette and had a standard looking radio and intercom on a generic security guard uniform and as expected looked up as the disguised Daniel strolled nonchalantly past.

He activated his preternatural senses and focused his attention on the guard noting a tell-tale sign that the guard was kindred, namely the fact that he had no discernible heartbeat. He was of course aware that smoking was an often used trick by vampires to disguise the fact that there was no sign of their breath in the cold night air. He also observed that the guard was keeping an unusually close watch on himself. Concerned that the guard might be able to see through his disguise he walked a significant distance away to give the illusion that he was just passing before doubling back and making his way to the side entrance from a different direction.

Daniel's Lock-Picking Set

Storytellers Note - Daniel's player has become very good at recon and infiltration. Making them challenging is much trickier now which is keeping us both on our toes.

Abandoning the dockworker ruse the Banu Haqim cloaked himself in darkness and vanished from sight as he effortlessly vaulted the fence and landed noiselessly on the other side before picking the lock on the side door in a moment and slipping inside. The side entrance led to a canteen of sorts which showed no signs of ever having been used and from there he made his way though a number of ground floor offices but finding no filing room. When he reached the door opposite the outer gate and guard he quietly checked to see if they had been alerted to his entry but it seemed that the kindred guard was looking out, not in.

As expected at such a late hour there is no-one working in the offices that you can see, there is a camera pointing down the single stairway to the offices on the upper floor where the documents are likely to be located. It is fixed but given the narrow approach couldn't fail to observe any-one climbing the stairway.

He sent a quick message to Keith to ask him to bum a cigarette off of the guard in his guise as a street person so as to keep him distracted while he himself quickly searched the second floor. Using his supernatural speed he covered the distance to the top of the stairs and around the corner so the camera would at best see an unidentifiable blur and hopefully not even that. Helpfully the filing and records room was clearly labelled as such so he picked this lock as well and made his way inside. Keith sent him a message saying that he'd distracted the guard for as long as he could but had left before drawing any suspicion. Daniel told him to make himself scarce just in case and continued his search.

The Elizabeth Dane - Marius's Cargo Vessel

The office seems fairly well organised and given that you have a date for the payment that you believe to be for the transportation of two kindred into the city you at least have a starting point. Of course not knowing the name of the vessel is going to be somewhat of a hindrance.

The only ship that Daniel knew the name of that was owned by a kindred was the Elizabeth Dane that had been acquired cheap by Marius after it was the site of a horrendous massacre some fifteen years ago with the loss of all hands.

Interestingly the file for the Elizabeth Dane was a different colour to all the others being red rather than the standard beige but was empty except for a standard printed note which read "Special Customer, Refer Direct to DG". He found four other files in identically coloured files, each of which contained the same printed note. These were for ships named 'The Marquis', 'The Prince of Wales', The Rose Garden' and 'The Zephyr'.

Brujah of David Geduld's Gang

You hear voices from downstairs "All I said was that it seemed odd, I didn't think Geduld would have us traipse all the way fucking down here to investigate though..." a different voice replies "Well at least we were nearby, we can get it done than go back to looking for lunch..."

The Banu Haqim evacuated the office and moved to a position from which he could view the stairs. One of the visitors had drawn and was checking a Beretta model 92f though the other was obscured from this angle. As the armed man looked towards his hiding place he nudged his colleague and Daniel's enhanced senses heard another weapon being drawn.

Realising that these must also be kindred and that at least one had the ability to see through his own abilities the Banu Haqim relied on his more traditional stealth training, circumventing the office rooms and circling back to the stairs. Stopping only to point the single camera in the opposite direction to the stairway Daniel made his way down the stairway, out of the side door and after taking the fence in a single leap, got the hell out of the area. Stopping to pick up his disguised ghoul he headed back to the relative safety of Pasadena after making a call to Andrew asking him to investigate the ships whose names he'd discovered as being 'special' in some way.

Interlude Three - Business Needs

Mr Hertz had been pretty much a permanent fixture in their boardroom since they had been tasked with assisting him and apparently treated all financial matters as interesting puzzles to be solved.

While they were making their enquiries on his behalf he had already completely reorganised their accounts, optimised their tax returns and had also began to make significant progress sorting through the vast amount of potential earnings available from Edward and Vera Vignes safety deposit box information that the coterie had been unable to make head nor tale of. Given that he had already extrapolated almost to the dollar how much un-laundered cash they must have piled up somewhere he had began to compile a list of cash businesses they might want to acquire as well.

Michael still wasn't sure that the many benefits of his presence outweighed the fact that he also now had a room full of rats in his gallery. At least Hertz slept in his own haven and took his pets with him when he left.

Storytellers Note - I may come to regret letting some-one create a character with four dots in Finance and another four in Streetwise. Not to mention specialities in such things as Black Market, Bribery, Forensic Accountancy and Money Laundering.

Michael had also given Daniel some tasks for his ghoul Andrew as he wanted camera's installed in whatever room in Vin's brothel that they were going to 'look after' Gloria's contact in order to "ensure the girls safety". He also made a mental note to get that sorted as soon as this 'Hertz' issue was gotten out of the way as it would be another boon paid off that he could forget about.

Security was also now more of an issue as recent events had made the baron consider that they were stretched thin when it came to dedicated security personnel.

They had the Apostles gang of course but Michael really wanted some-one who answered to him rather than have to use a bunch of drug dealers. Contacting a firm willing to supply former military and law enforcement operatives he acquired the services of two teams of five men and a senior man to use as a liaison between him and them. He also wasn't particularly surprised to find that they were all quite willing to work for envelopes full of cash which made giving out 'bonuses' for particular jobs fairly simple.

Storytellers Note - The Watchmen background is normally attached to a haven but I've house-ruled that it can be utilised (within reason) as a separate entity as I see no reason why you couldn't use your security guards to guard your blood doll when she went shopping, etc.

Scene Eight - Victoria

Venus Dare - Ghoul of Marius
Club Manager

Daniel's phone began ringing, the display indicated that it was either Victoria or Marius as they seemed to utilise the same number. This time it was Victoria. As usual she got straight down to business. "You asked Yukio about a visitor to Glaze and their companion?" Daniel confirmed that it was something he was interested in but that given the circumstances he imagined he was pushing his luck somewhat by asking. Victoria however was unusually cooperative this evening. "They didn't utilise the carpark monitored from the club but they definitely left together so I'm afraid vehicle information isn't something we can help you with. However Venus remembered the girl and the man your searching for having a meeting in one of the rooms at club confession with a notable Los Angeles kindred."

Victoria wouldn't be pressed on exactly who the meeting was with but Daniel was also aware that Venus was far less interested in kindred protocol than Marius's other ghouls and was probably the easiest to have a conversation with. Actually that wasn't one hundred percent true as the easiest to talk to was probably the irritatingly loquacious Heather. The difference was that Heather could talk for an hour and end up telling you nothing.

As most kindred in the city utilised either Fortier's Club Zombie or Marius's Club Confession for meetings he was reasonably sure he didn't need to clear going to Club Confession with Victoria especially as she had mentioned the place. Victoria had however apparently already preempted the issue. "It would be helpful if you gave me a list of places under our influence that you plan to visit so I can ensure nothing untoward happens to you while you're there."

The Sin Bin
'Providing a variety of services...'

Daniel had done some actual research this time in order to avoid any further diplomatic fuck-ups and was aware that the Sin-Bin where Marcel had also spent some money was another of Marius's businesses acquired through the misfortunes of others. He decided to mention that they may need to talk to some-one there quite soon. "Ah...the Sin Bin. It offers a wide variety of services including prostitution, peep-shows and pornography ranging from the mundane to the more...exotic. Perversion is a business like any other and is a necessity in this city particularly." "The manager there is an utter degenerate called Flynn Boyle but he's MY utter degenerate so make sure nothing happens to him during your visit. I'll tell him to be reasonably cooperative."

If Flynn was indeed "One of Victoria's" then he would no doubt be either a psychopath or utterly unpleasant or possibly both but he decided to keep this opinion to himself. He decided to merely assure her that he required only information and that if the manager there was indeed going to give them his cooperation then he could see no reason why there would be any problems. He also mentioned that they believed that they now had all the information from the club 'Glaze' that they needed but that didn't preclude the investigation taking them back there at some point.

The Asp Hole

Victoria seemed unconcerned about this. "Nightclubs have many uses for both kindred and kine interests alike, We currently have three, which for your information are Club Confession (of which you are aware), The Asp Hole and the aforementioned Glaze. These are ran by Miss Venus Dare and we do have interests in several more but own none of them outright...at the moment. In Chinatown the local Triads avoid our businesses in exchange for an agreed upon compensation and we in turn agree not to disrupt certain of their interests that overlap with ours."

"Is that all?" Daniel confirmed that it was and was about to thank Victoria but she hung up before he could do so. With permission obtained it looked like their next port of call was the delightful sounding 'Sin-Bin' which being in Hollywood also meant a call to Baron Isaac Abrams...

To be Continued in 'Blood Money' - Part Three

In Conclusion

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

Investigation sessions can be difficult to balance as you want information to be discovered over a variety of scenes but it can seem a bit 'on rails' if every place adds one piece to the puzzle in just the order they need. I therefore like them to have multiple sources for similar information and for some of what they hear to be misleading enough to drive their search to a red-herring or two. Also, information obtained from intimidation is going to be different than that obtained by persuasion or seduction so that needs to be considered as well.

Of course the other major issue is that if I make it too easy then there's no sense of satisfaction with the discovery and if it's too hard it becomes frustrating. Still...I think I've got the balance correct so far at least.

Now they have another lead in the form of the mysterious companion of their quarry and some other bits of pieces for them to move forward with. We'll see where that leads them I suppose.

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, Charles Dance is Mr Hertz, Yukio is Jamie Chung (on this occasion...I'm not very consistent with the actress or model for her...sorry...), the suspected blood doll is Ashley Callingbull, Marius Walker is Tony Curran, Victoria is Lilith May, Andrew Francis is Ray Stephenson, Gloria Martinez is Ariadne Artiles and Venus Dare is Sophie Howard. 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.