Vampire the Masquerade V5 - Session Sixty Eight - The MacNeil Protocols (Part Three)

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 chronicle is set in Los Angeles and features a small group of Camarilla agents sent into the 'Free States' to bring them back under Camarilla control. After a year of plotting, the coterie now controls the three North-Eastern Baronies and has successfully weakened several others. Unfortunately other Barons have used the chaos they have created to consolidate their own positions.

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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.
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Chronicle One - 'Infiltrate L.A.' 

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

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Chronicle Two - 'Foothold L.A.' 

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, Two, Three, Four, Five and Six
Story Ten - 'Anathema' - Part One and Two
Story Eleven - 'Predators and Prey' aka 'The Blount Sisters' - Part Three
Story Twelve - 'Aftermath' - Part One and Two
Story Thirteen - 'The Messiah Complex' - Part One, Two, Three and Four

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Chronicle Three - 'Incursion L.A.'

Story Fourteen - 'The Rant'
Story Fifteen - 'Ties of Blood' - Part One and Two

Solo Session - 'A Gathering of Roses'

Story Sixteen - 'The Southern Solution' - Part One, Two and Three
Story Seventeen - 'The Baker Disappearance' - Part One, Two and Three

Story Eighteen - 'Inevitable Betrayals' - Part One, Two, Three, Four and Five

Story Nineteen - 'The Marius Contracts' - Part One and Two

Story Twenty - 'The MacNeil Protocols' - Part One and Two

The PC's
Player controlled characters
Michael Tomassio - Toreador, 'Baron of the North East'
Vincent 'Vin' Ghast - Brujah, 'Constable'
Dr Daniel Matthews - Banu Haqim, 'Spymaster'
Hope Romero - Gangrel, 'Census Taker'
Mr Hertz - Nosferatu, 'Seneschal'

The SPC's
Storyteller controlled player allies
Priya Haynes - Gangrel, 'Sweeper'
Carla Doyle - Gangrel, 'Sweeper'
Orla Riviera - Gangrel, 'Sweeper'
Rosalind Perkins -  Thin-blood, Alchemist

Sofia Rivera - Toreador, Michael's contact with Sire

The player characters stats and backgrounds can be found HERE should any-one be interested, but be warned that the page is usually several stories ahead of the most recent write-up and may contain some spoilers. 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 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 or faction beneath their picture.

Storytellers Note - This was quite a long session so you might want to make yourself a cup of tea before you start reading...

Introduction

Two of Michael's three most skilled killers have successfully eliminated a number of apparently rogue members of the sewer dwelling kindred known as 'The Swarm'. 

This task was Gary Golden's price for the information that the coterie required on the havens of Jeremy MacNeil, the presumed destroyed, former de facto Baron of Los Angeles. The coterie and their ally Alonzo believe that the key to gaining access to the computer system with which Jeremy protected the masquerade lies within one of these properties.

Though the task was completed successfully, one of the swarm escaped to the surface and seriously injured a law enforcement officer before Hope tracked them down and destroyed them. Daniel's timely intervention saved the cops life though the attention drawn by the incident may yet cause the coterie difficulties in the future. If not with the mortal authorities, then with Isaac Abrams, Baron of the domain in which they were operating. 

Though the warrens below the city belong to the Nosferatu 'Gorgeous' Gary Golden, any activity above ground is sure to attract the attention and possible ire of Isaac.

Scene Ten - The Postman

Lisa Irving - Ghoul of Michael

Michael's ghoul, Lisa who also managed the gallery on his behalf, knocked on the office door and announced to Michael that he had a delivery. She also added that it was via special messenger, their code for kindred.

Waiting patiently by the rear door of the loading bay was a man wearing combat style trousers and a hooded jacket. Beneath his coat was a harness, like a shoulder rig for a pistol but with a pouch rather than a holster. From this he withdrew a plain looking brown envelope which he handed to Michael. The Toreador could detect a hint of nervousness from the Caitiff messenger but put this down to a well developed survival instinct rather than any potential threat.

Michael knew that the three caitiff that the Anarchs had dubbed 'The Postmen' had been more or less adopted by Gary and his Nosferatu when they were driven from their havens via the political upheaval within what was once called the Barony of the Angels. 

They now acted as messengers for Gary in circumstances where a Nosferatu's unique appearance may have drawn too much attention. In return they were given a home and Gary's protection, a deal which seems to suit both parties.

Jeremy MacNeil - Brujah
Former Baron of all Los Angeles

With the information now to hand, Michael requested the presence of Hope, Daniel, Vin and Mr Hertz

Four properties had been listed by Gary as havens or bases of operations used by Jeremy MacNeil. The first was an expansive mansion off Mulholland Drive in the Hollywood Hills. The second and third were both located in San Fernando though one of these was more of a mountain retreat than a home. The final location was apparently beneath city hall in Downtown. Gary claimed to have prioritised these based on the regularity with which MacNeil had used them. Presuming that he knew what he was talking about they decided to investigate the Hollywood location first.

Mr Hertz made careful note of the properties locations and left to do some digging of his own. Michael had created an area for the Nosferatu near to the loading bay and as far away from his own office as possible. Hertz's use of vermin as office assistants and his tendency to snack on slaughterhouse animal blood he kept in a flask weren't traits that the Toreador Baron Michael held in particular high regard.

Daniel suggested that some basic reconnaissance by himself might prove to be useful if he kept a low profile. The Banu Haqim regularly slipped in and out of Hollywood in order to visit his friend Alonzo and so was reasonably sure that he could observe the area without drawing any attention.

The Barony of Hollywood - Domain of Baron Isaac Abrams

Conscious that they were about to involve themselves in something that could put them up against some very powerful kindred, Michael asked Vin to double up on all their security precautions and personally ensure that their most important operations had no obvious vulnerabilities. He also contacted Hope to ask her to appraise her sweepers of the potential for added trouble and also to hold herself in readiness should they require her assistance.

Interlude - Blood and Bone

Marius Walker - Gangrel
Baron of Downtown

Marius was aware that three of the Bone Gnawers who lived beneath his domain had been following him quite skilfully for the last twenty minutes. Though he could have entered the warrens below Downtown much closer to the Swarms lair he liked to remind these Garou that they were guests in his territory, not the other way around, and so had entered the city-wide tunnel network near to their underground camp. 

This particular camp of Garou referred to themselves as Hoods and dedicated themselves to distributing wealth from the rich to the poor, provided that the money they gave them was used for useful things. Though their primary enemy was the vast corporation known as Pentex, the fact that they were also historically enemies of the followers of Set who now called themselves 'The Ministry' was also sometimes useful. Marius kept them content by making substantial donations to charitable organisations and supporting a number of local schemes that helped the homeless. They also feared the ancient arachnoid Gangrel known as Nicodemus who made his haven in a cave network beneath the Wilds and Marius kept the threat of him as a deterrent to any actions they might make against his own operations.

A fairly innocuous looking pillar ahead was marked on one side with the Bone Gnawers tribal symbol and on the other with a smeared and bloody hand-print used by The Swarm. As he crossed this territorial border, the following werewolves turned back and he gained a new set of far less subtle shadows. By the time he reached the lair of his childe, he had amassed quite a following.

Tilly Kelly - Gangrel
Mistress of the Swarm, Childe of Marius

Seated at the far side of a large oval chamber was Tilly, Mistress of the Swarm. Her pack had acquired an elaborate looking wooden chair from somewhere and she sat upon it like a queen upon a throne. Various offerings were strewn at her feet ranging from jewellery and trinkets to ornaments and other bric a brac. Bloody smears across the floor and walls indicated that she had recently received other more lively gifts too.

Her eldest surviving childe, Quinn was standing to her right as she held court over some three dozen of her swarm. Marius could see that only a handful were kindred, the rest were ghouls or blood bound mortals.

"One of my favoured childer has been destroyed..." She began, her voice surprisingly light and melodic. "...by pawns of the overdressed Leper beneath Hollywood. Something must be done to punish him." Marius interrupted his childe before she could launch into one of her petulant rants. "I warned you of the dangers of spreading out beyond the area I specified. If Gary hadn't destroyed them then Abrams would have gotten around to it." 

The Swarm
Kindred, Ghouls, Bloodbound and the Dregs

Many of the surrounding horde had began to get restless as their mistress and de facto god was berated in front of them. Some had even began to adopt more threatening postures.

"I see the issue..." continued Marius, a hint of anger entering his voice as he panned across the gathered swarm. "...you obviously have an overpopulation problem. Would you like me to help you out with that?" Tilly stood and gestured for her more aggressive followers to leave. "That wont be necessary. Lynch was useful, but not irreplaceable." 

Marius could see her fear, she was well aware of the fate suffered by childer who raised his ire. She was a useful shock and awe weapon to be sure but this was twice that her impulsiveness had caused him complications. Not for the first time Marius contemplated his error in not destroying her back in the sixteenth century as he had claimed to Prince Villon that he had done. 

Victoria Anne - Ghoul of Marius
Psychotic Personal Assistant

Her failure to destroy Ramirez had always been a possible outcome and he had taken that into account, however potentially antagonising Isaac was far more problematic. "Be patient, dear..." said Marius as he turned to leave. "...our time will come..."

As he exited the warrens via a long forgotten access tunnel and headed into the heavily armoured service elevator below his haven, Hallowbrook Apartments, Victoria was waiting for him. Marius seemed in no mood for preamble. "Find me something that Baron Abrams wants and have it delivered as a gift. Make it clear that it's commitment free, I want him well disposed towards us. Doesn't matter what it is, ancient or new, living or dead, favour or boon. Price no object. 

"Has your childe fucked up again then?" asked his ancient and most loyal ghoul. "Let's just say..." replied Marius. "...that I'm getting on Isaac's good side before any chances that I get a vaguely threatening phone call." Victoria nodded her agreement. Isaac was not a kindred to have as an enemy. Not if you planned on a long and trouble-free unlife at least... 

Scene Eleven - Mulholland Drive (Part One)

Isaac Abrams - Toreador
Baron of Hollywood

Daniel was reasonably sure that he hadn't been followed into Hollywood but kept on the alert just in case. Despite it's relatively small kindred population and Abrams's seeming lack of significant numbers of kindred and ghouled agents, the major players in the city were all very careful to keep on Isaac Abrams good side.

They evidently knew something about Issac's resources or capabilities that was not common knowledge. Even the Camarilla had respected his domain when LaCroix had declared praxis over the city.

The mansion off Mulholland Drive in the Hollywood Hills is huge, and very secure, having high walls, a conspicuous alarm system and security cameras at strategic intervals. However, other than a mundane security guard vehicle periodically patrolling the area in front of the estates gates it appears to be unoccupied.

Daniel examined the perimeter and located a few weak points in the security camera layout that would enable him to approach the house unseen. Maps of the local sewer system obtained from Alonzo also indicated that there was a way of getting into the grounds, though not the property itself. Deciding he needed more information, Daniel bypassed the outer wall and approached the main building.

The alarm system was state of the art and every window seemed to have a sensor attached to it somewhere. Eventually he discovered a small window near a side-door that had been overlooked. However he was sure that such a system would also have sensors monitoring internal zones and decided against testing himself against it just yet. He noted that both the alarm box and the patrolling security firm had a logo for a company called 'Mercury Security Solutions'. With basic recon complete, he returned to Michael to report his findings.

Michael was aware that Mercury Security was a company ran by Mercurio, a former ghoul of Prince LaCroix. He had found himself a new patron after the prince's destruction but none of Michael's contacts knew, or were willing to reveal, just who it was. Some of the rumours stated that Mercurio was actually receiving blood from as many as three influential kindred in return for access to his arms dealing contacts and legitimate security companies.

Andrew Francis - Ghoul
Security Specialist

Daniel's ghoul Andrew who was an expert in security systems, was aware that Mercury Security used extremely high-end technology that would be difficult to bypass without insider knowledge. Michael then asked Mr Hertz's opinion.

"I'll look into Mercury and see what I can discover, give me...thirty minutes or so?" As the rest discussed other options, Mr Hertz began to use his sources and personal expertise to come up with a solution of his own.

Finding legitimate company information took the Nosferatu no time at all. Once he had company information and names of senior managers with which to work he moved onto some less savoury methods of information acquisition. He discovered that Robert Price, a senior manager at the Hollywood office of Mercury had recently undergone a somewhat messy divorce and was now in considerable debt. After looking at his credit card information, bank account details and after making a quick call to a local loan shark, Hertz calculated that Robert was close to sixty five thousand dollars in the red.

When he returned to Michael's office the discussion was still ongoing so he politely interrupted. "I think I have a solution to our problem. I have located an individual who may be persuaded to assist us." Michael raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

"Oh yes. Though I'll need to remove some cash from our reserves, and borrow Vin..."

Interlude - An Offer

Mr Hertz - Appearing as a Mortal
Obfuscate - Mask of a Thousand faces

Mr Hertz cloaked himself in illusion and became to all appearances a somewhat generic version of his mortal self. Vin had left the majority of his weapons behind and was dressed in a dark suit and expensive leather jacket. Vin's ghoul had recently updated the wardrobe of her regnant and disposed of much of his original clothing. Their customer base in the sex trade had begun to include more sophisticated individuals and so she had decided that fine-tuning the hulking Brujah's appearance was both necessary and would have to be done by her if it was ever going to happen.

When Mr Price answered his front door he was met by an official looking gentlemen with a quite terrifying looking man standing just behind him. "I think we can be of assistance to one another Robert." Began Mr Hertz. "May we enter and discuss how?" With a mixture of fear and curiosity, he invited them inside, though would later find it difficult to explain just why he had done so.

Mr Hertz laid out their proposal. Robert's debt would disappear and a not insubstantial initial bonus would be paid to allow himself to get upon his feet once more. In return they would require a number of small favours. Hertz assured him that robbery was not their concern. This statement was backed up by the fact that their donation to him was far greater than anything they might make from robbing the location they had specified. They simply wished to look around for no more than an hour and wished to be completely undisturbed during that time frame.

"We of course have less pleasant methods of gaining your cooperation at our disposal." continued Hertz with a gesture behind him to where Vin was cracking his knuckles and staring at the manager most disconcertingly. "But I'm sure that you'd rather have our seventy five grand than our alternate offer." It took mere moments for them to gain his agreement.

About five minutes later Michael received a phone-call from the former mob accountant. "Mr Price has ordered a system test of the alarm at the Mulholland Drive property which will render it offline between one and two o'clock this evening. He has also arranged for the security patrol to have extra duties elsewhere during the same period. Vin has persuaded him that he is now committed to our cause and any retractions would...be disappointing..."

Storytellers Note - Mr Hertz and Vin's players aren't regular attendees so I sometimes fail to take into account how good they are at doing stuff like that. Looks like I'll have to move my dick-move to another location, lol.

"Excellent." replied Michael, careful to avoid asking any questions about exactly 'how' this had been accomplished. "Could you ask Vin to return to the gallery in case Hope, Daniel and I need any back-up?"

Scene Twelve - Mulholland Drive (Part Two)

With Vin and Hope held in reserve due to their somewhat obviously threatening appearances, Michael and Daniel drove up to the former home of Jeremy MacNeil. A messenger had arrived moments before they left with keys to the property obtained from Mr Hertz's new best friend in Mercury Security. They timed their arrival to maximise the amount of time they had to explore the property. A text message from Hertz confirmed that they could now enter as the security system was now disabled. 

Michael sensibly allowed Daniel to go ahead, just in case. Inside, the mansion was luxuriously decorated and spotlessly clean, with not a hint of dust anywhere. Michael noted that the design and decor was about a decade out of date and there was something else bothering him too. The whole building had the feeling of a museum rather than a home, as if it was being preserved in time. Though the home showed no sign that it is still in use, someone was obviously having it maintained at considerable cost.

While Michael admired the decor, Daniel looked around for any clues that areas of the building were still being used. Though he came to the same conclusions as Michael about the inside seeming to have been preserved, he did notice that the carpet to the cellar was excessively worn compared to other areas.

It seemed unlikely that this wear and tear had been caused by normal use. After pointing this out to Michael, he checked in with Hope and Vin. They reported no unusual activity, though were still on the alert regardless. 

The basement staircase led to a wine cellar. Like the rest of the building it has been cleaned and cared for and the shelves were stocked. The trained investigator also noted that there was a quite well concealed security camera over the door at the bottom. It currently appeared to be inactive, possibly as it was also connected to the currently deactivated security system.

As Daniel looked for anything that may be out of place, Michael perused the wines. They ranged from the outrageously old and expensive to younger but still high quality brands. Nothing seemed to be dated from any later than the approximate time of Jeremy MacNeils's disappearance however. As the search continued, Daniel became more and more frustrated that he could find nothing out of the ordinary.

Storytellers Note - Or more correctly, he couldn't make an Investigation roll to save his life. This is why if you really want a player to find something you have to have more than one way for them to discover it.

As Daniel worked, Michael continued to work his way through the wines and noted that one shelf in particular seemed to contain a number of bottles that were actually, fairly poor quality. It was as if whoever stocked this cellar didn't care about the contents of this shelf in particular. Curious about what had caught his Barons attention, Daniel moved over to him. as he did so, something caught his eye.

A minute indentation on the floor near one shelf, and an unnecessary gap next to it that would be just large enough to allow one of the racks to swivel sideways, leads you to believe that this shelf is used to conceal something.

The shelf did indeed swivel aside. Behind it was a a flush fitting door. On closer inspection a keypad was found concealed within an indentation in it. The numerical keypad had only nine buttons, no zero. A four digit LCD above was illuminated but had nothing currently entered upon it.

Unsure about how many attempts they would have, Michael began to try to remember important dates that might be important to Jeremy MacNeil. Three sprang to mind. His birth year of 1631, his embrace in 1657 and the Anarch revolt which occurred in 1943. "Try one, nine, four then three..." said Michael. The door promptly unlocked with an audible click. it seemed that Michael's hunch was correct.

Storytellers Note - Apparently I'm more predictable than I thought...

The 'panic room' is spacious but mostly empty. It contains six basic beds, an empty desk, several fridges and a weapons rack along one wall. Compared to the luxurious Mansion it looks more like a barracks than a home. There is a single door in the opposite wall.

The rack contains sturdy but functional handguns such as browning high-powers, colt M1911's and ammunition as well as several pump-action shotguns, and a couple of bolt action rifles. Somewhat out of place are a selection of black-powder pistols and a single musket, they look like antiques rather than modern replicas. The fridge is empty apart from a bag of congealed blood several years old.

The Banu Haqim tasted the blood and ascertained that it was human, before consuming the lot. "We have access to fresher sustenance than that you know?" commented Michael before his attention turned to the antique weapons. He took several photographs and carefully examined the weapons for indications of manufacturer. He had a strong suspicion that they may well have once belonged to MacNeil himself so refrained from removing them. Daniel then carefully opened the door in the corner.

The attached room is disappointingly empty apart from a few battered filing cabinets in one corner and a pin-board with a map on it on one wall. It does however contain far more electrical sockets and connections than would be necessary for any normal domestic purposes as well as connections to heavy duty power cables. Scratches on the concrete floor indicate that a number of heavy items have been moved about, though when is difficult to tell. 

The marks on the floor were not recent and the filing cabinets were empty. Each cabinet was labelled with the name of an L.A. district and there were twenty one in total. The map on the pin board was of Los Angeles and was also divided into twenty one sections with a pin in each. It didn't take much research to discover that these pins matched the locations of the twenty one police divisions in the city.

"It looks like this was where the system was originally kept and managed from." commented Daniel. "But where the hell is it is it now?"

Scene Thirteen - Social Climbing in San Fernando

Frank Atkins - Corrupt Cop
Ghoul of Michael

The coterie began to task their various agents with investigating the first property to see if any further discoveries could be made. Michael had his ghoul police officer Frank, whose career he had been helping, look into any local incidents that may have occurred at the location. Daniel had his contact in the police departments central records do the same. While Mr Hertz began to attempt to trace any legitimate companies that may be associated with the building, Vin subtly began to slip some of his army of street people into the area as additional eyes and ears. Though the first location was possibly now a dead-end, it never hurt to be thorough.

Tomorrows date and the address for the second of their targets rang a bell with Michael and he began to search through the myriad invitations to parties and openings which he had been ignoring of late. His Succubus Club project in Hollywood had been absorbing most of his spare time and so he had neglected many of his other social activities.

As he suspected, there in the draw was an invite to a social gathering by a pair of San Fernando's wealthy elite, a married couple named Aysha and Robert Mathis. It didn't take much research to discover that the pair were voracious social climbers and had invited everyone of note to their event. Michael wouldn't normally have been seen dead, relatively speaking, at such an occasion but exceptions could be made when it served his own interests.

Carla, Priya and Orla - Gangrel Sweepers for the North East Baronies

Having no intention of going alone he decided to take Daniel as out of all his coterie he brushed up best. Hope had difficulty concealing several animalistic mutations that had become permanent features and Vin drew considerable intention due to his size and intimidating aspect. Though Mr Hertz could disguise his appearance, he was currently more use looking for information on the homes they were investigating. Given the nature of their current investigation he also wanted all of his Gangrel sweepers patrolling the domain as he currently had no idea whose toes they might be unknowingly treading on.

A Selection of Daniel's Concealed Weapons

Selecting an adequate painting from his 'not quite good enough to exhibit' pile and an excellent bottle of wine, he prepared himself for the tedium of having to socialise with his inferiors and pretend that he was enjoying himself. Daniel replaced Dion as driver and bodyguard for the evening and only took with him his most concealable weaponry. Though for Daniel this still consisted of a considerable quantity of hardware.

While on the way Michael received a call containing some more information. Mr Hertz had ascertained that the property had been recently acquired by a realtor for rental purposes. The couple who currently lease the property have been inhabiting it for mere days and the property itself was unoccupied for quite some time. Hopefully this means that it has been relatively unchanged since MacNeils time. As far as the Nosferatu accountant can ascertain, the company now owning the house is an entirely legitimate one having no criminal or kindred connections. It is also solvent and seems to be run honestly which Mr Hertz's points out limits his options for applying leverage to them, should you need him to do so.

This location is marginally less expensive than the one in which the Hollywood mansion sat but the structure itself is another expensive and luxurious affair. Unlike the previous building, this one is of course inhabited. In fact there appears to be quite a party going on.

The front gates are open and the parking area in front of the house is full, necessitating visitors to park along the road outside. The cars are universally high quality and well equipped indicating that the party guests are all more than likely people of status. Gary has informed you that the property contained a panic room of sorts in an upstairs office area that was the most likely place for Jeremy to have created a haven, though it's possible that he made other arrangements once he'd bought the property. 

On arrival Michael waited at the door and asked a party-goer if he could speak to the lady of the house. Mrs Mathis was obviously both pleased and surprised that the noted local artist had accepted her invite and became positively elated when the gift of the painting and the wine were handed over. Michael could already see her working out how to casually drop the fact into conversation with annoying regularity.

Michael Tomassio - Toreador
Using the Presence Discipline

"May I come in?" asked Michael. "Of course..." was the immediate reply. "...I'll show you around and introduce you to some of my more interesting guests." The Toreador could see that the woman was already under his spell. This would make distracting everyone from Daniel's searching so much easier.

Storytellers Note - Michael has the Flaw known as a 'Folkloric block' which in his case prevents him crossing a threshold to a home if uninvited by the owner. The specifics of what is classed as an 'owner' is a bit vague but I interpret it as a psychological flaw and therefore it's Michael's perception of who is the owner that is most important.

Michael then indicated Daniel. "I'm afraid given the increase in crime within the city I have been forced to take the tedious step of engaging a bodyguard of sorts. He'll try to be inconspicuous as possible." Aysha barely gave Daniel a second glance before whisking Michael away to show him off to her assembled guests. Michael's supernatural presence caused all those within the party to find their attention inexplicably drawn to him and he rapidly became the centre of attention. Which was, in his opinion, right and proper as he was clearly the most important person there. This had the added benefit of drawing the other partying guests downstairs enabling the Banu Haqim Investigator to search upstairs relatively undisturbed.

With his preternatural senses turned to maximum he could hear Michael doing his thing, he could also tell that there were a lot of introductions going on indicating that not all of the guests knew each other well, or in some cases, at all.

Though interior design wasn't in Daniel's skill set he had a good enough eye for detail that he noticed a slightly odd design layout that seemed to indicate that one room was much narrower than it should have been. This led him to one room with older decor that hadn't been altered or renovated for many years. The desk within was quite obviously an antique and out of keeping with the house's overall design. Once he had ensured that no wandering mortals were nearby he had a closer look. It took mere moments for him to realise that one of the draws was deeper on the outside than the inside indicated.

Concealed within a false bottom of the desk draw is an obsolete looking remote control, with four buttons though only one is labelled with a faded 'On/Off' sticker.

Daniel opened up the back of the remote and gave the connections a quick clean as there was some corrosion on the terminals and gave the batteries a quick tap before pressing the only labelled button. There was a click from one wall where a decorative gas fireplace had been built. After checking once more for curious mortals he carefully opened the secret door discovering that the whole wall section tilted outwards, fireplace and all.

The room contains all the basic requirements of an emergency kindred Haven including bed, fridge and a basic armoury. There is also a corner desk, with a swivel chair in front.

The room contained shelves over the desk though these were all empty. However while searching this area he noticed that the desk itself wasn't entirely level with the wall as if something had prevented it from been pushed flush. Down the side he discovered a notebook, that had apparently fell behind the desk when the shelves had been emptied then subsequently overlooked. He quickly tucked this into his pocket, then sealed the room. He replaced everything where he had found it and carefully wiped his fingerprints from any area he had touched.

Storytellers Note - Kindred don't really leave fingerprints as they are created by oils in the skin. However when using the 'Blush of Life' they certainly do, imo.

Michael Tomassio - Definitely not a Vampire...

As Daniel returned downstairs, Michael was taking selfies with a number of guests. He also noted that Michael was conspicuously eating and drinking during most of them, presumably to allay any suspicions should he ever be investigated by the Second Inquisition or anything like it. A subtle nod between them indicated that Daniel was done with his search and so Michael made his apologies and left.

Once safely back at the gallery, the pair examined the book along with the rest of the coterie members who were present.

Scene Fourteen - Four Names

The notebook contains references to a number of police incidents involving potential masquerade breaches together with dates and police reference numbers though the most recent entry is from a decade ago. The back page contains four names and addresses with a phone number next to each. Beneath each one is a twelve digit hexadecimal code.

The names are Bonnie Jennings, Tianna Dorsey, Kieron Lucero and Umar Wagner. 

The coterie had access to many resources both legitimate and criminal so finding information on those four named individuals was fairly simple. It did however throw up many new questions.

Storytellers Note - Or to be honest I was knackered by this point so didn't make notes about how they did it, just what information they discovered...

Tianna Dorsey committed suicide nine years ago by hurling herself from the top of a building after she had escaped from a psychiatric facility. She had apparently sought professional help for depression and a number of psychological issues. These were identical to those suffered by those undergoing withdrawal from drugs.

She had then been committed to a medical facility for her own safety.  However she had no history of drug abuse and had undergone several blood tests which indicated no such substances within her system. During her escape she overpowered two guards and nearly tore a secure exterior door from it's hinges. The hospital put this down to 'Excited delirium' a condition not recognised by several organisations but considered the only explanation under the circumstances. Of course if you suspected Tianna of being a blood-bound ghoul then a different explanation could be considered.

The Last Round - Downtown
Haven of Nines and His Crew

Kieron Lucero was found dead in an unsavoury area of Downtown several months previous to Tianna's death. The police report put it down to a hit and run due to the extreme physical trauma and multiple broken bones. Daniel had obtained a copy of the coroners report through his police and medical contacts and had come to a different conclusion.

As an expert in both mortal medicine and also in the damage that comes from combat using vampiric disciplines, he decided that it was much more likely that someone with extreme strength, speed and resilience had beaten the unfortunate man to death. Closer analysis of the injuries extrapolated from that conclusion led him to believe that the techniques used were more than likely from the varied hand to hand combat styles taught to Vietnam era soldiers. The proximity of the murder site to the Brujah frequented bar known as The Last Round and the familiarity of Nines ally Skelter with exactly those abilities led the coterie to a worrying conclusion.

Bonnie Jennings and Umar Wagner had both been reported missing about a decade ago. Bonnie's disappearance had been reported by her mother and Umar's by a close friend. Neither had ever been seen or heard from again though the cases remained open as no-one had had them declared dead. Interestingly the missing person reports on these two had been quite difficult to locate having seemingly been 'accidentally' misfiled.

The coterie strongly suspected that these four had been the mortals tasked with operating the system that they were searching for. Alonzo had theorised that at least four mortal operators would have been needed to monitor such a system for twenty four hours a day. Their names being listed in a notebook possibly belonging to Jeremy MacNeil led some weight to that conclusion.

While the names were investigated further they now had two likely next targets. The second property in San Fernando or The Last Round...

To Be Continued in 'The MacNeil Protocols' (Part Four)

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...

Spreading clues across multiple locations is a bit of a trope but my core group of players like investigation and social interaction stories so I'm focusing on that aspect. That is not to say that they won't be in danger, quite the opposite. Just not quite yet...

The session went fairly well and I only had to wing one section so that was pretty good for my lot. I was expecting them to bypass the security system of the first mansion directly. But when they came up with the alternate plan to go after the security company management I let them do it that way as it was, to be fair, an excellent plan.

Mr Hertz has spent the xp necessary to take them as a permanent contact which will probably bite me on the arse later. Or him, depending on how I feel about it by next session, lol.

Acknowledgements
“Portions of the materials are the copyrights and trademarks of White Wolf Entertainment AB, and are used with permission. All rights reserved. For more information please visit white-wolf.com.”

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 Matt Bomer, 'Vin' is Scott Adkins, Dr Matthews is Mads Mikkelsen, Hope is Deborah Ann Woll, Mr Hertz is Charles Dance, Lisa Irving is Amanda Righetti, Marius Walker is Tony Curran, Tilly Kelly is Anna Paquin, Lilith May is Victoria, Gary Oldman is Isaac Abrams, Ray Stephenson is Andrew Francis, Michael Chiklis is Frank Atkins, Priya is Gabrielle Union and Aysha Mathis is Yvonne Strahovski.

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.

Vampire the Masquerade V5 - Session Sixty Seven - The MacNeil Protocols (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 chronicle is set in Los Angeles and features a small group of Camarilla agents sent into the 'Free States' to bring them back under Camarilla control. After a year of plotting, the coterie now controls the three North-Eastern Baronies and has successfully weakened several others. Unfortunately other Barons have used the chaos they have created to consolidate their own positions.

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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.
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Chronicle One - 'Infiltrate L.A.' 

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

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Chronicle Two - 'Foothold L.A.' 

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, Two, Three, Four, Five and Six
Story Ten - 'Anathema' - Part One and Two
Story Eleven - 'Predators and Prey' aka 'The Blount Sisters' - Part Three
Story Twelve - 'Aftermath' - Part One and Two
Story Thirteen - 'The Messiah Complex' - Part One, Two, Three and Four

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Chronicle Three - 'Incursion L.A.'

Story Fourteen - 'The Rant'
Story Fifteen - 'Ties of Blood' - Part One and Two

Solo Session - 'A Gathering of Roses'

Story Sixteen - 'The Southern Solution' - Part One, Two and Three
Story Seventeen - 'The Baker Disappearance' - Part One, Two and Three

Story Eighteen - 'Inevitable Betrayals' - Part One, Two, Three, Four and Five

Story Nineteen - 'The Marius Contracts' - Part One and Two

Story Twenty - 'The MacNeil Protocols' - Part One

The PC's
Player controlled characters
Michael Tomassio - Toreador, 'Baron of the North East'
Vincent 'Vin' Ghast - Brujah, 'Constable'
Dr Daniel Matthews - Banu Haqim, 'Spymaster'
Hope Romero - Gangrel, 'Census Taker'
Mr Hertz - Nosferatu, 'Seneschal'

The SPC's
Storyteller controlled player allies
Priya Haynes - Gangrel, 'Sweeper'
Carla Doyle - Gangrel, 'Sweeper'
Orla Riviera - Gangrel, 'Sweeper'
Rosalind Perkins -  Thin-blood, Alchemist

Sofia Rivera - Toreador, Michael's contact with Sire

The player characters stats and backgrounds can be found HERE should any-one be interested, but be warned that the page is usually several stories ahead of the most recent write-up and may contain some spoilers. 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 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 or faction beneath their picture.

Storytellers Note - This was quite a long session so you might want to make yourself a cup of tea before you start reading...

Introduction

The coterie is investigating a theory put forward by their ally, an Elder Nosferatu known as Alonzo. 

Alonzo has theorised that Jeremy MacNeil had access to, or had created, a computer system that was connected to every police station in the city. This had allowed him to control information on potential masquerade breaches, assist the baronies in cleaning up their own messes and almost certainly compile prodigious amounts of useful information. Such a system, if it truly existed, could give an ambitious group of kindred considerable power.

Having decided to avoid the information brokers connected to kindred who may wish to take the system for themselves, the coterie have opted to meet with Gary Golden in order to acquire information on potential havens of the missing Jeremy MacNeil.

Scene Four - 'Gorgeous' Gary Golden

'The Asp Hole', Hollywood

Michael arranged a meeting with Gary Golden via the usual convoluted channels that seemed to amuse the warren dwelling Nosferatu. Having no intention of wading through a smelly, rubbish strewn sewer, Michael arranged to meet Gary in the basement meeting room of a Hollywood club called 'The Asp Hole'. 

This was slightly risky as the club was one of Marius's establishments and should any of his people be present then their curiosities may end up being aroused. Fortunately, meetings between barons and information brokers were common enough that only the most spurious of explanations would be needed. No-one expected kindred to be honest with others about their activities anyway.

Daniel was pleased to note that Venus Dare, manager of Marius's three clubs was not present there this evening. The coterie had hoped this would be the case as she tended to favour Club Confession most of the three clubs under her control. The staff were, of course, aware that certain customers had 'special' needs and were also well aware of the fatal consequences of asking too many questions.

Club Confession, Downtown and Glaze, Chinatown - Marius's other Clubs

The sub-basement had only a single meeting room as it was mainly only used so surface dwelling kindred and those who made their havens beneath the city could meet. It did however have several tables with fairly comfortable seating and a number of fridges that were used to store any 'refreshments' that guests might require. The fridges were currently empty, however one of the previously empty chairs was now occupied.

'Gorgeous' Gary Golden
Baron of the Hollywood Warrens

Gary is impeccably dressed in a dinner suit, white shirt and bow-tie and as usual appears as if from nowhere upon your arrival. "Evening boss. What can I do for you?"

Michael had already prepared a vague reason for needing the required information. He was however reasonably sure that as long as a price could be agreed that Gary couldn't really care less about the 'why'.

After a polite handshake he got straight to the point. Michael claimed to be "Curious.." about certain properties owned, or utilised by Jeremy MacNeil back when he was the de facto Baron of all of Los Angeles. He mentioned the locations learned of by Daniel as a starting point. These included a mansion in Hollywood, a pair of locations in San Fernando and a possible location near a seat of government.

Though obviously intrigued, Gary as expected asked no questions. "I'd love to help of course..." replied Gary. "...but unfortunately I have quite a serious problem on my hands currently that requires my undivided attention..." Michael could see where this was going but waited for Gary to finish. "...so as long as I have this on my mind I couldn't possibly take on any other tasks."

"Perhaps I can help." said Michael. "That could certainly change the situation." Replied Gary.

Tilly Kelly - Gangrel
'Mistress of the Swarm'

"You are aware of the unpleasant offspring of Marius who dwells below the city?" the Nosferatu began.

Michael nodded, but it was Daniel who spoke. He confirmed that he and several other members of the coterie had seen the so-called 'Swarm' in action and had even been in the presence of their mistress. "She's not someone that I'd like to trifle with on a whim..." concluded the Banu Haqim.

"Don't look so concerned, I don't expect you to destroy her. To be honest I doubt that's a viable option for anyone in the city at the moment. However, during the recent unpleasantness below ground in L.A. they have been spreading far and wide and then withdrawing back to Downtown. However, she appears to have inherited her sires parenting skills and the dregs of the dregs get left behind. I'd like you to clear out a small number of 'nests' for me..."

Michael's empathy immediately allowed him to detect the half-truths within the statement, Daniel's talent for profiling had led him to a similar conclusion. Gary was an experienced enough negotiator to tell when some elaboration was required so he provided a slightly more detailed explanation.

Storytellers Note - The players rolled well enough to get some extra exposition, but not quite well enough to learn everything that they potentially could have.

Marius Walker - Gangrel
'Sometimes Prone to Overreaction'

"Well, when Marius fell out with Ramirez I made an arrangement that the Nosferatu of the Warrens would stay out of the way of his childers swarm. Now I'm just the tiniest bit concerned that wiping out groups of the leftovers could be considered me breaking that agreement, if the kindred I made it with happened to be an unusually picky and unpredictable lunatic with a psychopath for an assistant. However your coterie made no such agreement and you're also on unusually good terms with the Gangrel in question."

Michael confirmed that he had people that could deal with such an issue but that they would need a guide to the appropriate locations. Gary agreed to arrange to "...have Caleb guide you to the approximate areas of 'infection'...". A meeting point was then arranged for the following evening to begin their clearance operation. "I imagine..." said Michael, turning to Daniel. "...that you'll be needing Miss Romero's assistance?"

Hollywood Cemetery

With the deal arranged, Michael and his bodyguard Daniel left Hollywood. Michael did however make a small detour to check upon the tomb of his ancestor Countess d'Adhemar within Hollywood's cemetery. The cemeteries guardian 'Romero', a ghoul of Baron Abrams, had ensured it was undisturbed as agreed with the Baron of Hollywood.

Storytellers Note - The full account of that discovery can be found in part one of a three part story beginning HERE.

A security guard, an unusual sight in a cemetery during the early hours of the morning, was stationed nearby, equipped with night vision gear and a selection of ranged weapons. Michael also noted that there were several security cameras mounted subtly around the tomb. Precautions added by Baron Abrams at the request of Carmelita Neillson no doubt. The guard came to attention at Michael's approach but relaxed slightly when he recognised him. Presumably he had been well briefed on who and who not could approach the area. Satisfied that adequate precautions were being taken he returned to his vehicle and his chauffeur Dion drove him back to his haven.

That he had been observed the entire time by another individual was a fact that he unfortunately completely missed...

Scene Five - Old Friends

Caleb - Nosferatu
Childe of Gary Golden

Caleb, third childe of Gary Golden, and an expert on the sewers and warrens below Los Angeles, was waiting for them at the agreed upon meeting place. The coterie had rescued Caleb during the thin-blood uprising known as the Cross Rebellion and he was therefore quite well inclined towards it's members. It was Gary's apparent willingness to sacrifice his own childe during those events however which had soured Daniel towards him somewhat.

Daniel was armed with his usual compliment of suppressed weapons and knives and as they were hunting below the surface had taken far fewer precautions to conceal them than usual. As they were currently lacking information about enemy numbers and capabilities, Daniel had bought along extra ammunition.

The coteries Gangrel census-taker Hope had some weapons with her but rarely used them as she much preferred the sensation of tearing apart enemies with her claws. Her claws were somewhat of an issue at the moment as after a recent frenzy they had remained in their extended state. Most such transformations amongst frenzied Gangrel faded after a night or so, these had not. Though she wore specially made gloves when out in public, the fact that each of her fingers ended in a several inch long ravens claw was still difficult to conceal.

Hope's duties currently were ensuring the security of the baronies borders along with directing the activities of the coteries three other sweepers. She had separated herself from the night to night activities of the other coterie members of late as had recently found that only the vitae of kindred gave her sustenance. This was something she wished to keep to herself for obvious reasons.

Alchemical Tools

She currently resided in the basement of an abandoned hotel that she had acquired with borrowed funds along with a number of duskborn whose number included an alchemist. Currently Hope sustained herself by using duskborn blood 'thickened' by alchemical means. Hope ensured that her pair of duskborn guests were well fed though a certain measure of fear was also part and parcel of ensuring their cooperation. Certain areas of the haven were strictly off limits to all but Hope herself. No-one amongst her retainers and herd asked what they contained though they had their suspicions that they themselves weren't her only source of sustenance.

Hope and Daniel engaged in some small talk before a subtle and biologically unnecessary cough from Caleb indicated that he required their attention. 

"The swarms left-overs have currently infested three areas. There is a small and fairly isolated group near to here. A marginally larger gathering which seems to have based themselves around an abandoned surface access that they occasionally utilise to hunt prey that are a mile or so away. The third and largest of the groups has taken a disused underground station for themselves and seem to be the most organised. I'll guide you as near as possible to each group but i'm afraid that I've been instructed to take no part in any aggressive activities."

"Is Gary that concerned about breaking his agreement with Marius?" asked Daniel. "Who Knows? They have a weird relationship..." answered Caleb. "...they're still playing their stupid tit for tat scavenger hunt game. If I didn't know how busy they both were, I'd think they were bored..."

"Shall we get this done?" Interrupted Hope.

Interlude - Gary's Game

Sebastian LaCroix - Ventrue
Former Camarilla Prince, Destroyed

During the Sabbat invasion of Los Angeles in two thousand and four, LaCroix, then Prince of the city used a wide variety of agents and resources to obtain intelligence, resources and occult items in order to cement his position. Amongst those agents were a newcomer to the city, several information brokers and Marius 'The Fixer' Walker and no doubt many others. Marius, having no known political leaning was just as willing to work for the Camarilla as the Anarchs, though he drew the line at the Sabbat.

After completing several tasks for Gary Golden that enabled him to obtain the information the prince required, it was thought that the matter was closed. That was until the first of a selection of slightly odd e-mails was received via ShrectNet.

Since then their game has continued on and off for fifteen years. Gary tasks Marius with locating an item for him and on it's acquisition the payment is invariably a photograph or poster of a notable female kindred within the city. Sometimes these are covertly taken photographs, or posters and pictures taken when the kindred in question were mortal. It is also suspected that Gary plays this game in varying forms with other kindred throughout the city though the 'rewards' vary considerably in format. Why he would put such effort into such an ultimately pointless activity is unknown to anyone but himself. 

A Selection of Gary's 'Posters'

What is certain however is that Marius is one of only three kindred who bothers to play the game in return. Marius invariably responds shortly after each of Gary's 'jobs' with a request for a piece of obscure and generally useless, yet difficult to obtain information. He pays for each of these with a piece of memorabilia from Gary's mortal film career during the nineteen thirties and forties.

It is apparently Gary's turn next.

Scene Six - An Infestation

The Hollywood Sewers

Daniel suggested that they dispose of the group with surface access first as they had the greatest potential for a breach of the masquerade. He was also concerned that they may learn of any assault upon the other groups and make their escape. Hope was largely indifferent about who she killed first and so left the planning to Daniel.

As they moved through the underground passages, Hope noticed that Daniel was significantly different from when they had last worked together. He had always been careful but now seemed almost paranoid, his movements were quicker but less measured and he hadn't made a single pop-culture related wisecrack since they met. It had always been him who was a steadying influence on her and he who had prevented her from letting her beast have full rein. Whatever changes had occurred with the Banu Haqim began to worry her. Caleb interrupted her musing.

Kindred Disciplines - Obfuscate

"The second largest of the three groups is just down the next passage on the right. These have found a store-room near a surface access. There's definitely more of them than the first lot and at least two are kindred. I think they've been up a few times so they might be a bit better fed than the first group."

"Some stealth is going to be required. You stay here, I'll scout ahead " Said Daniel and promptly blended into the shadows and disappeared around the corner without making a single sound. "Whatever..." began Hope, but he had already left. "You're friend has gotten awfully serious since I last encountered you both..." observed Caleb. "Yeah..." said Hope, noncommittally.

The side room was exactly where Caleb had described and seemed to be a disused equipment store of some kind. Extending his preternatural senses to their fullest, the Banu Haqim observed the area. A lock on the door had been ripped clean off and left to dangle uselessly from the frame. He could hear voices talking softly within but couldn't make out exactly what was being discussed. As he contemplated moving closer, the door opened and a scruffy looking man emerged and headed down the passageway towards where Hope and Caleb were waiting.

Daniel could see that they were not human by the simple observation that they weren't breathing as he stalked them in silence. He briefly considered taking them intact for interrogation and to see if they had any tactical information before abandoning the idea. They were here to destroy everyone and Caleb already knew their numbers and locations so it would just be a waste of effort.

Daniel Matthews - Banu Haqim
'Significantly More Ruthless'

Storytellers Note - The character has recently become Humanity 4 and so the player is roleplaying him as far more ruthless than he was before and slightly less careful. Expediency has now become more of a priority than anything else. Unfortunately for the player this was possibly a bad move as there was useful information to be had from an interrogation which is why I put them the target there in the first place, lol.

The victim never saw the blow that granted him his final death as Daniel emerged from the shadows behind him and drove his blades deep into their body. As he dragged them into a nearby alcove to finish them off he tasted a small quantity of their vitae. He concluded that they were a new embrace, barely even a vampire judging from their bloods relative lack of potency. The lack of decomposition on their death confirmed this hypothesis. Daniel then returned to his companions.

"They're where Caleb specified, there was one wandering about but I dealt with it. One entrance, so it looks like surprise is our best bet." Summarised Daniel. As expected, Caleb elected to wait exactly where he was. Hope was the most resilient of the pair so was to be first through the door. Daniel readied two of his pistols and waited for his Gangrel ally to begin the assault. 

Daniel - Precision Shooting

Daniel swung the door open and Hope launched herself into the room. She selected an enemy who was beginning to raise a drum-fed assault rifle. He never got a chance to fire as she leaped across the room and tore into them with her raven-like feral claws. Quickly scanning the room, Daniel noted that two of the occupants had, or were near to, handguns and promptly put several bullets into each of these targets killing them instantly.

Dropping the shredded remains of the kindred she had butchered, Hope cleared the corpses of Daniel's victims before their bodies had even hit the ground and tore the throat out of a panicked looking swarm member before he had a chance to move. The two that remained alive made a break for the door. They never made it there as Daniel's pistols accounted for two more victims. "One down..." said Hope, expecting Daniel to respond. He didn't.

Half-Empty Assault Rifle

The magazine of the drum fed assault rifle was half full, as were the two pistols. The rest had been armed with nothing more than sticks and knives. As well as Hope and Daniel's targets there were two additional corpses in the corner. They appeared to belong to a vagrant and a young woman, possibly a prostitute. They had both been drained of blood and partially consumed. Caleb then appeared at the door. "Where next?" he asked. Both the Banu Haqim and the Gangrel could clearly see that Caleb was uncomfortable with the scene of destruction before him.

"I've reconsidered that first group." said Daniel after a moments thought.. "I don't want the main group to have a fall back position with potential covering fire. We'll wipe them out, then take out the main force." Hope agreed, though she was growing increasingly concerned about some of Daniel's new personality traits apparently his ability to think tactically hadn't suffered.

Storytellers Note - For those of you who haven't read previous write-ups featuring this pairing, some explanation might be needed. Hope and Daniel bantered a lot in character and so the fact that he's not doing so would be very noticeable to the character. The characters are also friends in a very real sense and so it's understandable that Hope would be concerned about her friends radical change in outlook. There was some good role-playing this session which was enjoyable to watch.

Scene Seven - Fodder

Caleb took them back towards the first group of swarm dregs via a different route. He had circumvented them originally to get close to those that Daniel and Hope people had just destroyed but this time led Michael's people directly towards them.

"The first lot are lurking down that side passage, they have a guard by the entrance but I doubt that will deter you much. They number approximately half a dozen, none are actual kindred as far as we're aware..."

A brief reconnaissance by Daniel confirmed that there was a single mortal, possibly a ghoul keeping watch and four others around some form of campfire. The fact that they were casually warming their hands using the open flames indicated to Daniel that they must be all mortal as Caleb had surmised.

Hope used some of her reserves of Vitae to further enhance the fortitude for which her clan was famous and rendered herself temporarily immune to the vampiric bane of fire, Just in case of complications. Daniel had already reloaded both his pistols. "I'll take out the guard on the way in..." suggested Hope. "...then you can give me covering fire then follow?"

Daniel had initially planned to take out the guard himself but as the location could be clearly observed from within the tunnel they would gain little time by doing so. "Okay." he confirmed. Once again trying to awaken some of her friends sense of humour, Hope made reference to "...Super Mario games leaving her unprepared for the realities of sewer related combat..." but as before the cultural reference was either ignored or went unnoticed.

True to her word, Hope removed the guards throat with brutal efficiency and leapt upon another mortal by the fire before they even looked up. A moment later Daniel appeared at the entrance and killed two more with precise shots from his paired 10mm pistols. The sole survivor sat frozen, not knowing what to do and having no avenue of escape. Daniel calmly walked over and executed them without a second thought.  

Though several poorly maintained handguns were discovered, there was barely enough ammunition between them to fill a single magazine. Their improvised weapons were merely sticks and a rusty old knife. "Let's hope the third lot are that unprepared and poorly equipped..." quipped Hope. Though she doubted that it was likely. "...I also found their lunch." she said, indicating a partially consumed corpse in one corner.

Storytellers Note - I figured they would take out the targets in the order that Caleb had listed them so this was meant to be their first target. It was basically a warm-up and the first indicator that their prey were cannibals, amongst their other issues...

Scene Eight - Lynch's Mob

Abandoned Subway Station
Hollywood Warrens

Caleb agreed to take them to the outer limits of the final and largest groups territory but stated that he had no intention of going any further. "I'm staying well away from this lot, they've spread through an abandoned subway station. It has multiple surface entrances and plenty of hiding spaces. They patrol too. I'll wait here..."

Daniel once again acted as scout using his natural abilities at stealth and his more supernatural abilities to remain both silent and invisible. It turned out that Caleb was correct about patrols as a pair of swarm members moved down the corridor before crossing over a makeshift bridge and returning the way they had came. Not wishing to act prematurely, Daniel pushed down his instinct to kill and instead quietly followed the patrol into their recently acquired territory. As he did he noticed that the lights were working so either this station still had power or the swarm had somehow tapped into a power line somewhere.

Abandoned Subway Station
Sniper Nest

Stopping a safe distance from an abandoned subway platform ahead, Daniel settled into a shadowy corner and observed the area ahead. The concealed sniper nest almost escaped his notice as whoever was manning it made no movements at all.

The assassin concluded that they were probably kindred as he couldn't even see the rise and fall of normal breathing. They did however have an excellent view of the approach to the station. Daniel decided not to risk moving any closer as he had no idea what supernatural abilities his opponents may have and instead crossed to the other side of the corridor for an alternate view.

A second sniper, this one probably mortal, was stationed in another nest at the opposite corner of the gantry containing the first. Daniel didn't like to jump to conclusions but their positioning seemed to imply a third nest of some kind just out of his view. While contemplating this he noted a second patrolling pair moving across the platform. Deciding he had seen enough he returned to Hope and Caleb to discuss their options.

'The Swarm'
Ghouls, Blood Bound and the Insane

That there was a tactically experienced kindred controlling this group was obvious to all present. This probably meant that there were at least two kindred to deal with and at least half a dozen other experienced fighters. This was without taking into account any cannon-fodder that was so common amongst the swarm and was almost certainly lurking around somewhere.

Caleb interrupted the tactical conversation. "Actually, we believe that they have at least three full kindred amongst their number. The leader and two others. They also had a lot more of those blood bound or ghouled lunatics, that they seem to favour, than you've mentioned so far..."

"I can take out at least one of the nests, quickly..." stated Hope. "...unless they're in the habit of taking pot shots at any random bird that might be flying around down here. I imagine my transformation back will draw enough attention in my direction for you to do some damage of your own. Especially from the sniper I'm standing over at the time..." Daniel agreed that it was a decent enough distraction plan, and began to calculate the head-start Hope would need before he made his own way forward.

Hope Romero - Raven Form
Protean - Metamorphosis

Hope transformed into her raven form and launched herself down the access corridor, skimming the ceiling to minimise the chance of being targeted. A moment later, Daniel broke into a run timed to intercept the closest of the two patrols.

Hope transformed in mid-air, a technique she'd utilised many times before and plummeted into the kindred sniper below. Near to starvation due to her casual and consistent use of vampiric disciplines she grappled the enemy and drover her fangs deep into their throat, draining them dry and leaving them in torpor. The patrol that Daniel was heading to intercept, turned at the commotion as did the first of the other sniper nests to react.

Daniel emptied both of his handguns, one into each of the patrol members backs and reloaded on the run as the bodies before him fell to the ground dead. Ignoring the sniper aiming at her, Hope leapt across the gantry to the slower reacting nest as it turned to focus upon the now visible Daniel. They were merely mortal and soon fell to the claws of the experienced Gangrel. As the surviving lookout attempted to target the fast moving Gangrel once more, Daniel riddled their nest with suppressing fire but couldn't see if he'd hit anything. Then the doors to a series of broken windowed retail units ahead opened and the ragtag horde mentioned by Caleb emerged.

The Swarm - Improvised Weapons

Armed with swords, knives and a selection of sticks and bats wrapped with barbed wire or pierced with nails, the group charged forward. Behind them, another individual was spurring them on, presumably one of the three kindred guiding this particular infestation. Hope jumped down from her perch, attempting to catch the kindred below her by surprise but mistimed the leap and stumbled as she landed. fortunately she regained her footing and avoided stumbling into the dozen blood-crazed lunatics charging towards Daniel. Less concerned about a dozen mortal scum with improvised weapons than a sniper, Daniel took careful aim and emptied both magazines into their skull, just to be sure.

Daniel could see the second patrol attempting to move towards Hope but found themselves caught up in the mass of bodies surging in the opposite direction. The assassin switched to his full-auto browning and emptied it into the pack before calmly reloading. He figured he'd get one more burst before he needed to break out his blades. Hopes chosen enemy meanwhile was attempting to heal a pair of gaping wounds in their chest and neck, but their reserves of vitae were inadequate to fully repair the damage before their head was brutally ripped from their shoulders.

Daniels Karambits

Ignoring their dead, the remainder of the swarms cannon-fodder continued forward into another burst of fully-automatic pistol fire. The closest almost impaled themselves on Daniel's pair of karambit's such was their momentum. The warrior had recently been taking training from Marius's ghouled assassin Yukio and was now at the peak of skill with both knives and swords. Taking apart such untrained opponents was childsplay to him now and he killed three more in as many seconds.

Out of the corner of her eye, Hope saw movement as a previously unseen figure made a break for a stairway in the far corner of the station and transformed once more into avian form so as to pursue. Seeing his team member transform, Daniel concluded that she must have seen a surviving enemy. Anxious to assist her he quickly finished off the remnants before him, stopping only to take a quick drink of blood to replenish himself.

Scene Nine - 'First, Do No Harm?'

Hope's prey was climbing up a ladder, leading to a service hatch of some description, with considerable speed. She noted they had a submachine gun over one shoulder. Attempting to slow them down, Hope glided down, claws extended and went for their eyes. Daniel meanwhile immediately burned through the blood he'd recently consumed and covered the distance to the ladder using bursts of superhuman speed.

Temporarily fending off Hope, the fleeing kindred hurled the hatch aside and began to climb through. Slipping through the gap in her airborne form, the transformed Gangrel moved to intercept as Daniel climbed the ladder in pursuit. The kindred saw Daniel climbing and aimed their MP5 downwards. Realising that his positioning would effectively result in the bullets going through the top of his head, the Banu Haqim pushed himself backwards off the ladder. Instead of potentially being decapitated he instead took the rounds to his legs and stomach. Not the best result, but far better than the alternative.

Feral Claws

The distraction created by Daniel had given Hope time to transform back and she launched herself at what was hopefully their final foe. The speed that they evaded the blow caught her by surprise. Their targets up to now had been weak-willed mortals and newly embraced weaklings. This one was different.

Having healed himself enough to climb, the Banu Haqim emerged through the hatch and found himself in an alley in Hollywood. His senses still at their maximum he immediately realised that they were dangerously close to a busy area of the town and that the burst of weapon fire would have echoed alarmingly in the narrow alleyway in which they stood. Another worrying fact was that Hope was still engaged in combat, her foe apparently proving more troublesome than their previous encounters.

Hope admonished herself for presuming that all those left behind by the Mistress of the Swarm would be easy marks. Her underestimating of this foe had already allowed him to wound her twice and evade her opening attack. As she gave herself some space to consider her options, Daniel tried to grapple them to the ground. Claws as deadly as those of Hope almost disembowelled him as he did and he too intended to take a step back. Instead he lost control. The urge to taste kindred vitae overwhelmed him and he tried once again to grapple their mutual enemy. This time however, he went straight for the throat.

Lynch could tell that he was outclassed. Perhaps he could fend off one or the other but not both. Deciding that it was time to depart, he cleared the charging kindred going for his throat in a single leap and zagged past the gangrel who had pursued him, while she was in avian form. Another figure turned into the alleyway entrance right in front of him and he slashed them across the throat without a second thought as he ran into the crowded street beyond.

Daniel watched the unfortunate cop who had come to investigate the gunshots, tumble against the wall, blood spurting from his damaged throat. It was obvious to a trained surgeon such as himself that without instant attention they would be dead within minutes. However he felt strangely indifferent to the fact. Hope shifted into her other animal form, that of a wolf and gave chase using her enhanced sense of smell to track them. She was sure that Daniel would be helping the wounded policeman so didn't give that a second thought.

Storytellers Note - We had a bit of a break here while a discussion was had about whether being Humanity 4 would completely undo a lifetime of training based around helping others. My personal opinion is that a Humanity score of 4 is on the edge of being a monster but that fundamentally you are still you and therefore would still know the difference between right and wrong. However I also believe that you'd be more than capable of letting someone die if saving them was too much of an inconvenience. Still being unable to decide, the player took a Willpower test and let the dice decide for them.

Daniel habitually carried basic medical gear with him though of late he had picked up the pouch more out of habit than anything else. Deciding that a dead policeman would cause them more trouble than a mysteriously saved one, Daniel set to work. The man had already passed out from shock which made the chance of a masquerade breach marginally less likely, especially as Daniel knew that their body would not heal unaided. Drawing one of his blades across his wrist he allowed his vitae to flow into the unconscious cop's mouth. Daniel knew that Ghouls healed quicker than mere mortals and right now the poor fellow needed all the help he could get.

In wolf form Hope darted between the legs of surprised mortals who had congregated in this seedy part of Hollywood's underbelly. She followed the scents of the sewer and traces of gunpowder that her quarry had left behind them and eventually tracked them to a side street. 

Hope Romero - in Wolf Form
Protean - Shape-change

They were leaning over an unconscious mortal and had began to sink their fangs into their throat. Now with the advantage of surprise, she flowed back into her humanoid form and advanced slowly towards the kindred and his victim. Her first strike severed their spinal column, the second removed their head completely.

After using an ability to cloud the memory she had learned after an act of diablerie a year ago, she left the woman by the alley entrance and returned to the decapitated corpse that had began to rapidly rot away. She quickly and deliberately dismembered the body, left a piece in each of a number of refuse bags dumped nearby and then became a raven once more and flew away.

Having done all he could to save the man at his feet, Daniel picked up their radio and called in an 'officer down' before heading back down to the abandoned station and sealing the hatch behind him. Caleb was waiting amidst the carnage below. "Any problems?" "All dead except one runner..." said Daniel, summarising considerably. "...Hope is running down the escapee. they're probably destroyed already so your boss can send Michael the information he requested." Caleb withdrew to make his report as the Banu Haqim checked all the bodies to ensure they were actually dead or destroyed. A single survivor in torpor was summarily dispatched and then, with the job complete, Daniel made his way back to make his own report to Michael.

Nicholas Rowland - Toreador
'Census Taker' for Baron Abrams

Hope flew low over the alleyway from which they'd initially emerged and landed upon a nearby wall. She could see that several law enforcement officers had cordoned off the area. An ambulance crew were loading a uniformed man into the back of an emergency vehicle before driving away at top speed. With all the attention focused on the commotion, no-one had yet discovered the woman she'd left behind but as Hope had licked her wound shut she should be okay. Strangely conscious of a man in dark glasses who was watching her intently from the back of a nearby car, she quickly became airborne and returned to her haven. 

A moment after the raven was out of sight the man in the dark glasses reached for a mobile phone as it began to ring in his pocket. "Mr Abrams?...Why, yes...an outside contractor has seemingly dealt with the infestation we were discussing...No...a minor breach but it's been contained...yes, I'll ensure it's been done thoroughly..." As his boss hung up, Nicholas Rowland, 'Census Taker' for Hollywood once again wandered how the Baron was aware of an event that had only occurred minutes before. He also recalled that his predecessor had once asked a similar question out loud and had never been seen again.

Removing his glasses as he did so, he walked over to the most senior looking officer to ensure that any reports made on the incident were phrased correctly. "You and I need to talk..." without question the dominated officer began to explain exactly what he knew. Then Rowland explained to him that that wasn't what had happened at all...

To Be Continued in 'The MacNeil Protocols' (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...

Last session was to let the players get warmed up with their negotiation skills, this one was all about the action. Or avoiding the action so you could visit your ancestors grave, in the case of Michael's player.

Anyway, it went fairly well and they kinda cleared up their little masquerade breach. If you haven't read some of the earlier session write-ups then take my word for it, for them this was clean. Next session they'll get access to the information they require and we'll see what they do with it. Which will almost certainly be exactly the opposite of what I expected.

Acknowledgements
“Portions of the materials are the copyrights and trademarks of White Wolf Entertainment AB, and are used with permission. All rights reserved. For more information please visit white-wolf.com.”

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 Matt Bomer, 'Vin' is Scott Adkins, Dr Matthews is Mads Mikkelsen, Hope is Deborah Ann Woll, Mr Hertz is Charles Dance, Tilly Kelly is Anna Paquin, Marius Walker is Tony Curran and Nicholas Rowland is Matthew Mcconaughey.

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.