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. Over a year of plotting allowed the coterie to gain control of two North-Eastern Baronies and a large part of a third. Now they are moving on to the final stage of their campaign and have their eyes on taking over the entire city, either directly or by proxy.
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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. There are however a list of potential triggers listed before the introduction. 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
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. There are however a list of potential triggers listed before the introduction. 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.'
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
Chronicle Two - 'Foothold L.A.'
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.'
Chronicle Three - 'Incursion L.A.'
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 Seventeen - 'The Baker Disappearance' - Part One, Two and Three
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Interlude Session One - After Griffith Park
Interlude Session Two - Divide and Conquer
Interlude Session Three - On the Brink of War
--------------------Chronicle Four - 'Conquest L.A.'
Interlude Session - Recon
Interlude Session - Damage Limitation
Interlude Session - The Killing Spree
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Michael Tomassio - Toreador, 'Baron of the North East'
Dr Daniel Matthews - Banu Haqim, 'Fixer'
Hope Romero - Gangrel, 'Census Taker'
Dr Daniel Matthews - Banu Haqim, 'Fixer'
Hope Romero - Gangrel, 'Census Taker'
Eric Moore - Nosferatu, 'Vigilante Hacker'
The Storyteller
Garreth - Everyone else...
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.
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. Introductory pieces that I read to the group are in Blue. 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.
Trigger Warnings for This Session: Blood (Obviously), Drug Use, Forced Imprisonment, Sexual Assault
Introduction
After successfully committing the act of diablerie upon the torpid Elder Michael Unther, The Baron of the North East is now ready to put into place the first stage of the coteries plan to finally remove the threat of the Unbound Ghoul gang known as The Young Bloods.
Storytellers Note - This session will also contain a secondary story for the character of Daniel who is attempting to redeem himself after losing control to his Beast one time too many. These are only short 'solo' sequences but will run parallel to the main storyline.
Storytellers Note - This was also a particularly long session so you might want to get a drink and some snacks before starting reading.
Scene One - The Path of Lilith
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| Lia - Gangrel Bahari, The Children of Ennoia |
Lia was a surprisingly patient teacher, though approached her role as Daniel's torturer with equal vigour. Teacher, torturer and lover were more or less the same role for Bahari but not all devoted equal time to all three. Daniel was currently focussed solely upon being taught rather than teaching and had no desire for a lover, especially from amongst the Bahari.
During his time at the temple he had learned the identities of a number of the cities kindred who were adherents of the Path of Lilith though couldn't really determine their position within the hierarchy.
Some of this was related to his personal observation of their comings and goings within the temple and others due to overheard conversations. Though he had tried to respect the privacy of the temples visitors, certain of his abilities and training were impossible to 'turn off'.
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Bahari of The Path of Awakening |
Subsequently she had nothing to do with them at all. Oddly, the other Bahari seemed to be more than happy with this lack of contact. Lia even went as far as to refer to her as 'a dangerous extremist'. Considering what Daniel already knew of the temples rituals, any activity that they considered to be extreme didn't really bear thinking about.
He was somewhat surprised to witness a member of the Consolidated Chantry of Los Angeles visit the temple, albeit briefly. Elizabeth 'Etain' Brooker of House Tremere's desire for blood went far beyond a kindred's normal needs and would have been considered a sexual fetish in a mortal. In Daniel's opinion she was also clearly a sociopath and possibly also a psychopath.
The Wilds Pack status as Bahari was of no surprise to Daniel, though he now knew that the eldest of them, Nicodemus, was not. He had heard the pack members comment that Nicodemus's thought patterns were too alien for the Bahari's concepts to even register. Also overheard was Myranda referring to Nicodemus as a 'Childe of Ennoia' though it seemed unlikely to Daniel that she was being literal as this would make him of the fourth Generation. He had also concluded that The Wilds Packs first loyalty was to Marius, not Mary.
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| Nicodemus - Gangrel Elder The Wilds Pack |
Though well aware that Vinicius Santos was a true believer, it had come to light that he had apparently converted his pack as well. Daniel also had confirmed that Vinicius was a childe of Mary, not a grandechilde. This may have explained why he was so keen to avoid displeasing her, given the Bahari's interesting philosophies in the area of diablerising ones childer.
Additionally, Marius was a common topic of conversation amongst the Bahari. Some believed him to be a true believer, others questioned his commitment considering that he was also a known ancestor worshipper who venerated Ennoia, the Gangrel Antediluvian. The one constant that Daniel was sure of was fear. All the Bahari felt this emotion to some extent or another when Marius visited the temple, even Mary, though she hid it best. He deferred to Mary as spiritual leader of the temple, but Daniel was not convinced this was in any way genuine. Though maybe this may have been just his paranoia coming to the fore.
Either way he was sure that should Marius ever be out of the picture, Mary could become very dangerous to the stability of the city. He had witnessed her speed, strength and cruelty enough during ceremonies to know that she would be very dangerous indeed to anyone she deemed as an enemy of the Bahari. She also completely lacked anything approaching morality that was outside of the ethics of The Bahari's paths and this was combined with the strength of purpose of the truly fanatical.
Scene Two - Missing Persons
Tracking down the follower of someone whose security teams were amongst the best in the city and doing so without alerting it's Baron, who had total control of the infrastructure of West L.A. was not an easy task for Eric.
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| Bertram Tung - Nosferatu Information Broker, Downtown |
Though he could have hacked into it himself, avoiding annoying one Baron (Louis) by pissing off another one (Marius) seemed somewhat counterproductive. Bertram had also previous spoken to him about 'not rocking the boat', when it came to his personal situation and Eric liked him too much to risk his safety on a whim.
As a kindred with a legitimate mortal identity as an author, Mariel St. John's vehicle was properly registered which gave him a make, model and vehicle registration. She drove a 2020 Ford Shelby GT500. Common sense would indicate that it would have had some defensive modifications but Eric could find no record of them.
A simple program entered into the database to search for appearances of this vehicle was his first move. Unlike television hackers who accomplished things by typing quickly, he had to wait for the program to do it's work. It took a few hours before he got any viable hits, and he then had to extract the footage and sort out the useful from the not. A few more hours went by before he had enough data to map her routes and discover where she was last seen.
He then briefly looked into the second task allocated him by Michael. He now knew that the two childer of Salvador Garcia, Gloria Martinez and Allison Maller, met each other regularly but never at the same location twice and often in rundown areas where local cameras had been vandalised.
Gloria Martinez and Allison Maller - Childer of Salvador Garcia
As Michael had listed this as his second priority, this would need to be put aside until he had resolved the Mariel issue.
Unfortunately daylight was approaching and the need for daysleep was impossible to ignore.
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| Mariel St. John - Ventrue Mistress of Baron Louis Fortier |
Mariel was generally accompanied by at least one escort vehicle, though occasionally left the mansion unannounced, and was gone before one of Catherine's security teams could catch up. Eric had made notes on a few places she frequented but these seemed to mainly be legitimate businesses of Fortier's, though she also had meetings in other Baronies, presumably on Baron Fortier's behalf.
His curiosity was piqued by a dead spot in the recordings as a 'system test' was being run from a local substation rather than the main office from which his own information was being downloaded. Mariel's Shelby GT500 entered this dead zone and didn't appear again. This was the last sighting of either her or her vehicle he could find.
Phone traces and taps had also been problematic as apparently Baron Fortier had access to military grade encryption systems and all his people used them pretty much religiously. It was doable, but cracking that kind of security could take weeks. Weeks he did not have.
Additional cross-referencing put Mariel's disappearance on the exact night of the Camarilla's failed assault on Fortier's mansion. On a whim he reviewed the footage and became sure that the same dark van had been following her on multiple occasions, but always left swiftly if she was accompanied by security.
Mariel St. John's Ford Mustang Shelby GT500
A quick check on the security notes passed onto him by Daniel Matthews before his departure had the van matching the description of one that was utilised by the Young Bloods. The vehicle registration was different and apparently belonged to a completely different vehicle whose plates were reported stolen. It was a stretch, but worrying conclusions could be reached made about what may have happened to Mariel.
Interlude - The Orphans
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| Pierre Bellemare - Brujah Antitribu Pack Ductus of Les Orphelins |
There were murmurs of agreement from the members of his pack assembled within the clearing, despite many of them believing that this conclusion was somewhat of a leap as, after all, the Sabbat had been defeated twice before by the Anarchs of Los Angeles. Loyalty kept them from speaking out, loyalty reinforced by blood that is, and no small measure of fear.
"...The Lost Angels were lured into a trap by faulty intelligence, no doubt fed to them by traitors within. The Crypts Sons were betrayed and ambushed by the traitor Hank Boyd who was deemed to weak to join us. His allies were Marius Walker, destroyer of many of us in the incursion of 2004 and one called Michael Tomassio, the Anarchs most vocal proponent of the masquerade. The Misery Lords were scattered by turncoats within such as the Lasombra, Taslima who has sought sanctuary with the very enemy who destroyed the Lost Angels..."
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| The Vaulderie |
"The bonds that hold us together are stronger than that..." he continued, becoming louder and more aggressive as he spoke. "...We will renew our Vinculi, as we have done many times before and then we shall take the battle to our enemies. Our allies arrival is imminent. Zarnovich's Circus will be here within two nights, and Antoine Le Fanu and Lazarus James will join us within the week. Together we will shatter the masquerade and avenge those amongst us who were too weak to destroy our enemies...Sister Evelyn, you may begin..."
Each member of the pack dripped a small measure of Vitae into the chalice handed to them in turn by Evelyn Marlowe, or Sister Evelyn as she was more commonly known.
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| 'Cairo' and Sister Evelyn - The Orphans Pack |
The Ravnos antitribu now known as Cairo was a former Knight Inquisitor of the Sabbat and had suspected Pierre of being an Infernalist. Unfortunately she had learned that she was correct a moment too late and before she could act, had been crippled by his powers and then her spirit bound to him. She alone of the pack knew of it's leaders true allegiance and was tortured by her inability to do anything about it. He used the Vaulderie to keep her subservient, and his pack too loyal to question his true motives.
"If we are in danger of betrayal..." questioned one of the pack. "...how can we be certain that this meeting place is safe?"
Pierre disliked being questioned, but it was a legitimate enquiry so he deigned to reply. "The location was scouted out by Luthor Hyde of the Misery Lords. Luthor is currently leading the Gangrel of South L.A. on a merry chase around the coast. His loyalty is without question..."
This also seemed to be a conclusion that was based on very little evidence. If the Misery Lords had one traitor within, then why not two?
Scene Three - The Scattered Pack
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| Myranda Marie - Gangrel Pack Leader of The Wilds Pack |
Sebastian Bradley, one of the surviving members of The Misery Lords Sabbat Pack had gone to ground in The Wilds. The Wilds Pack had allowed him to believe he had entered their territory unobserved and were monitoring the area where he had hidden for the day. Several of the pack had merged with the earth nearby and followed Sebastian as soon as he arose.
He had zig-zagged his way through the barony known as The Wilds, made a single cell-phone call from near it's Northern border before going to ground once more after a surprisingly careful feeding. It was evident that he was taking every precaution against drawing attention to himself.
'The Butchers' Gangrel Pack were to take over the pursuit once this careful Sabbat agent moved once more. Sebastian had disposed of the phone that he had used, but it had nonetheless been retrieved and was currently in the hands of Marius's people in the hope that some information could be salvaged from it's remains.
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| Isaac Abrams - Toreador Baron of Hollywood |
Luthor Hyde is still nowhere to be found and several Barons were now putting increasing pressure on Marius to put more of his own resources into the search. Particular pressure was coming from Harvey Caplan, Allison Maller, Hank and Louis Fortier whose Baronies all bordered the area that Luthor was said to be scouting.
This pressure has had to be relayed through Marius's agents rather than directly as he has been taking no meetings at all for the last few days. This has meant dealing with Victoria, which has annoyed some kindred who dislike being told 'No' by a mere ghoul. Especially one who doesn't even attempt to feign respect for those with which she deals.
These many problems have prevented Michael from spending anywhere near enough time focussed upon his art gallery, The Galerie Sanguine. Fortunately there were residents of his Barony who were more than willing to take up some of the slack.
Cai Arias, a neonate Toreador and resident of Pasadena, had expressed his desire to put on a show of his work at the gallery. He had combined his shadow art and smoke art into a large scale project meant to represent the darker and seedier side of Los Angeles that only manifested itself at night.
Cai Arias - Toreador, Artist, Resident of Pasadena
Though bordering on the pretentious, the work was still exceptional, so Michael allowed him to do as he had requested. Of course, he would ensure that his ghoul Lisa also kept an eye on things, just in case.
Scene Four - Back-Up
The first stage of the coteries campaign against the Young Bloods was an investigation of a property they maintained, half-way between Los Angeles and their base over the San Gabriel Mountains.
Eric had obtained a plan of the ground floor of the structure. It seemed that the second floor was a recent addition and apparently had never been logged on any official documents. There was also nothing on the plans to indicate a cellar but he'd have been surprised if it didn't have one.
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| 'Zipper' - Caitiff Computer Expert and Hacker |
Eric Moore and 'Zipper' had been rivals as hackers for a very long time. The fact that they now both worked for Michael Tomassio, had resulted in a constant battle between them about which was 'top dog'.
Eric had arranged a meeting with Michael to pass on what he had learned and see what exactly his Baron wanted to do about it. Unfortunately for Eric, his knowledge of kindred etiquette was sorely lacking.
"Yo, Micky T, I need to get, like, closer to the biker dudes place so I can do my thing..."
"Firstly..." interrupted Michael. "...it's Michael, Baron or Baron Tomassio. Secondly, what exactly is it you require?"
Eric apologised, and then explained that a plan of the security systems at the half-way house had been obtained but that he'd need some back-up in case there was any trouble. He neglected to share that it was Zipper who had located the security information, though Zipper had already made that fact known to Michael so he needn't have bothered with the subterfuge. At the moment the rivalry between the two was motivating both, so Michael wasn't interfering. If it became nasty then he'd have to step in.
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| Catherine DuBois - Ventrue Childe and Mistress of Baron Fortier |
Michael made a few phone calls and arranged for Catherine DuBois to supply them with one of the Fortiers customised transports, his census-taker Hope to be available for back-up and one of Daniel's ghouls to act as driver.
"If that's all?" said Michael. Wondering as he had done when Victoria recommended Heather to him, that he was perhaps just becoming a dropping off point for agents of Marius's that got on Victoria's nerves.
A ghouled driver of Catherine's, dropped off one of her vehicles to use during the upcoming operation, a mere forty-five minutes after Michael had made the request.
Baron Fortier, Catherine's sire, had offered to help the coterie in their campaign as an alternative to owing any favours to the Ventrue power-broker Fiorenza Savona, Marcelina Black of the Circulatory System or Marius Walker, Baron of Downtown. Out of this list of kindred power-players, Only Baron Fortier had anything close to a code of honour.
The armoured van had two bench seats in the back, and three seats in front. One of these had a fold-out desk with power and connections for a computer and amongst an impressive selection of gadgets was a police scanner. The engine had also been heavily modified, presumably to counter all the extra weight of the vehicles armour and so should be fairly quick.
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| Andrew Francis - Ghoul of Daniel Investigator and Security Expert |
"Nice gadgets these friends of yours have..." quipped Eric
Daniel's ghoul Andrew got into the driving seat, and Dion, normally Michael's chauffeur, rode shotgun. Literally in this case. Having a back-up driver seemed like a good idea, and Dion was also a very good shot.
"Have you done this shit before?" Eric asked Hope.
Hope nodded. "Daniel sneaks, I fight, sometimes we both fight, but Daniel's tools of the trade are somewhat different than mine." Hope raised one hand to show the neonate hacker the claws with which she was permanently endowed.
"I didn't even know Daniel could fight..." responded Eric. "...I thought it was all spying and shit..."
As Hope began to tease Eric with a list of Daniels and her own successful kills, Eric began to worry that he was in way over his head.
As daylight approached, both made their way to their places of concealment, to await the coming of night once more.
Scene Five - Shallow Graves
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| Dion - Ghoul of Fiorenza Savona Assigned to Michael Tomassio |
"Dion found an area just off the road for us to wait." explained Andrew. "According to the maps, the place you're going to hit is two miles down the road. We figured this was close enough without drawing too much attention."
Eric wasn't happy when he heard the word 'hit'. "We're just here to retrieve what information we can. No-one's planning on 'hitting' anything..."
Both Dion and Andrew were well aware of Hope's skill-set and therefore had their doubts about Eric's assessment. Michael generally didn't send his census-taker and leader of the North-East's sweepers on a job unless violence was likely. Deploying Hope was considered something akin to rolling a hand grenade into a room and awaiting the 'Bang!'.
"Time to go all 'Sam Fisher'..." quipped Hope. "That game is old..." replied Eric. The scowl he got in return made him subconsciously take a step back. Before he could say anything else, the Gangrel had already left the van. Eric hurried after her with his bag of tricks slung over one shoulder.
The Young Bloods way-station was off the main road, down a twisting, but well maintained pathway, wide enough for a van, or three motorbikes side by side. Hope was avoiding the road but still travelling parallel to it, Eric followed with surprising stealth.
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| Bear Trap - The Young Bloods |
Eric found himself in a heap on the ground as Hope barrelled into him. "What the hell?"
Hope picked him up by the scruff of the neck and gestured towards the vicious trap he'd been about to blunder into. "Is this bear hunting country?" he asked. Hope shook her head. Unsure about what else might be awaiting them, the Gangrel used her vitae to fuel the gifts of resilience for which her Clan was famous.
A mile or so further on, after bypassing several other primitive deterrents, Eric tapped Hope on the shoulder. "I thought I saw something glinting in the moonlight..." he pointed a few yards ahead.
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| Dragons Breath Shells |
"Fuck..." was Eric's considered response.
Hope was also on the look out for anyone who might be watching the road. Her assumption was correct. Leaning against a tree on the corner was a stocky fellow whose presence was revealed by the light of the cigarette he was smoking. His jacket bore the blood drop symbol of The Young Bloods gang.
Hope pointed at the guard and made a throat cutting gesture. Eric attempted to indicate that he wished to instead avoid them by making a walking movement with his fingers. Hope had moved about three steps in the opposite direction before changing her mind.
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| 'Splat...' |
The Gangrel moved towards the Young Blood. They saw her but it was too late as a single punch to the throat silenced them. The blow was made with such force that it also removed their head from their body. If the Nosferatu actually still ate food he was sure that he would have lost his last meal.
"We need to hide the fucking body..." he whispered once he had regained his composure. His companion agreed, noticing as she did a narrow trail leading around to the rear of the house. She threw the body over her shoulder and much to Eric's disgust kicked the severed head in front of her like a football.
The trail led to a clearing about a hundred metres from the rear of the house. Within the clearing were the unmistakeable mounds of earth that indicated a recent burial, eight recent burials in this case.
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| A Shallow Grave |
"Maybe this is where they dispose of kindred they no longer need?" theorized Hope. Both realised that the only way to truly know was to dig one up. Sure that Eric was too squeamish to do so, Hope picked a pile at random and used her claws to clear away the earth.
The body in the shallow grave was unmistakeably one of the Young Bloods gang, though he was missing his head. Hope was familiar enough with the damage to be reasonably sure that it had been removed with a small object, travelling at considerable speed. Her bet would have been a kindred fist.
"I'll check another just to be sure." said Hope. "But then we need to get on with the job, okay?"
The second body was also a Young Blood. This one had been shot at close range, an expression that reminded Hope of surprise frozen upon his dead features. "A falling out between gangers?" asked Eric. Hope didn't think so.
"I think it's more likely that one of their targets didn't go as easy as they were hoping. Punching a man's head off isn't easy even for one of us, so whoever did this was either bastard hard or really pissed off..." countered Hope. After a moments consideration she rolled the body of her earlier victim into one of the two opened graves, tossed in the head and then quickly covered both over.
Scene Six - The 'Guest'
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| The Young Bloods Fire-Pit |
Anxious to avoid any more, in his opinion at least, avoidable collateral damage, Eric elected to observe these gang members himself to see if he could learn anything useful.
There were two topics of conversation. The first was an impassioned discussion about some of their friends who had died in a recent 'collection' job. The consensus seemed to be that the gangs latest acquisition was more trouble than they were worth and should have been eliminated rather than kept.
They had been overruled by 'Z' who wanted them to grab any vamp's they could, and damn the casualties. Though these bikers had gone along with the decision, it was obvious that they weren't happy about the casual disregard their boss had for those who had died.
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| 'Big Z' and Vera - Leaders of the Young Bloods |
The Nosferatu slipped away and returned to report in to Hope. "I need to draw them away from the house, there's like, fucking shitloads of them." explained Eric. "How about making that shotgun trap go bang? that might get someone's attention?"
Though not a terrible suggestion, Hope pointed out that investigating such things was likely the job of the guy she'd decapitated. This meant that the rest probably wouldn't check out the noise until they realised that their look-out was missing. That would create a whole new set of problems when he turned up missing. "Do things normally go this well?" asked Eric. Hope shrugged.
"Fine. I'll see if there's another way." said Eric as he took out some of his computer gear and attempted to get into their system via their wireless network. The security system wasn't the worst he'd ever encountered but to a hacker of his skill it might as well have not been there at all.
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| Eric Moore - Hacking the System |
The garage seemed a good starting point.
As Eric faded from sight, Hope had to do a double-take. Whenever Daniel used this ability while in her direct presence, it never seemed to effect her ability to see him despite him disappearing to others, yet Eric had been standing there one second and then was gone a moment later. Maybe this 'Budget Daniel', as she now thought of him, was more useful than he initially appeared.
Storytellers Note - 'Budget Daniel' has now totally become a thing...
Some of the rooms inside are illuminated as you can see cracks of light between the shutters protecting each window. A single motorbike is by the front door, though there is a substantial garage to the left of the front door which could easily contain several cars or a dozen bikes.
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| Stairs to The Young Bloods Basment |
After conferring with Hope, they came up with a simple plan. Eric would spoof the alarm on the window at the opposite side of the house and then they'd sneak in when the garage guy left and see what was downstairs. Unlike most of what they'd attempted up to now, this seemed to work perfectly.
The garage contained one large van, crudely re-painted black at some point, and four Harley-Davidson motorbikes. The van was basically a prison transport inside, perhaps acquired legitimately, perhaps not. A quick look inside the bikes panniers revealed a selection of chains, nets and hooks inside. This confirmed the reports they'd had of kidnapped kindred being dragged behind the bikes of their captors. Hope pointed towards the stairs and Eric disappeared from sight once more.
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| Prisoner of The Young Bloods in Chains |
Two men were apparently on guard though judging from the amount of empty beer cans on the table, weren't taking the job particularly seriously. Several cans were also lying around their chained victim as if they'd been using him for target practice. Once back in the garage proper, Eric asked a question. "There's a vamp chained to the wall down there, he's got two assholes guarding him. Do we save the guy?"
"The only way to do that..." pointed out Hope. "...Is to kill the guards." Eric reluctantly agreed.
"3, 2, 1, go..."
Scene Seven - Search and Destroy
Eric was significantly stronger than his size indicated, and he hit the first guard in the face with considerable force. Unfortunately the biker was also a ghoul and that came with a certain measure of additional resilience. They went down, but weren't out of the fight yet.
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| Feral Claws - The Protean Discipline |
The Nosferatu Hacker gave Hope a dirty look as he searched the two bloodstained corpses for the keys to the prisoners chains, being reasonably sure that she'd deliberately killed them in the most brutal way possible, just to mess with him. He found the keys, indicated to the prisoner with a finger over his mouth that they needed to stay quiet, and then unlocked the manacles. After feeding upon the bodies of the dead, they attempted to gain what information they could from the gangs victim. It wasn't a pleasant tale.
'Toby' Moore, actually Tobias, was a Caitiff, with absolutely no idea of his generation or ancestry. He had been taken while travelling from San Jose to Los Angeles about a year ago, give or take. As he had been given no way of recording the exact passage of time, he couldn't be specific.
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| Tobias 'Toby' Moore - Caitiff |
When pressed, his reasoning became clear and quite understandable. He had been travelling with a ghoul of his own who the gang had tortured, raped and killed, while he was forced to watch. They had claimed that this was her punishment for consorting with vampires, and his for ghouling her in the first place.
Hope had been more than happy to kill as many of the gang members as was necessary to get the job done. After hearing what the gang had done, she now wanted to wipe them out to the last man. Now being outnumbered two to one in the "shall we go on a killing spree?" debate, Eric agreed to help. Despite being positive that the unbound ghouls were deserving of death, he still had no real desire to take a direct part in, if he had counted correctly, the murders of another seven people.
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| Preparing for His Revenge |
Hope cleared the distance to the three ghouls in the living area, the impact of the leap which drove her claws through the body of the first, killed them instantly. A second who made the mistake of stepping forward was hurled into the wall with bone shattering force. The third, who had sensibly stepped away, got away with only a glancing blow from a backhanded strike with a feral claw.
As one of the gang ran towards the melee from the kitchen area, Eric punched him in the face, breaking their jaw and sending them sprawling back in the direction from which they'd came.
As the former prisoner Toby struggled to reload this purloined SMG, Hope advanced upon the survivor of her first assault. A blast from a sawn-off shotgun caught her in the stomach, shredding clothing but doing only superficial damage to her resilient undead flesh. Finally managing to ready the weapon, Toby opened fire on the remaining two Young Bloods who had ran into the room from outside, guns at the ready. Unfortunately without the element of surprise he was a poor aim and succeeded only in forcing them into cover.
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| Highly Inaccurate Gunfire |
The Nosferatu slapped the pistol from the hand of his attacker, then lifted them from the ground and slammed them into the nearby counter. This time he was making no mistake and held them firmly in place before hitting them over and over again with all his strength. It wasn't pretty, but it got the job done.
Seeing the carnage in their supposed safe-house, the emerging biker turned to run, leaving his comrade behind. His escape attempt was short lived as Hope caught him in the back and tore him to pieces. Deciding that the Gangrel was the most dangerous of the remaining enemies, the sole survivor ran in the opposite direction. Now resigned to the fact that there would be no survivors, Eric grappled them to the ground. Before he could act, the prisoner pushed him aside, placed the barrel of another salvaged weapon into the bikers mouth, and blew their brains out.
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| Drug Use Paraphernalia - The Young Bloods |
Upstairs consisted of a bathroom, two bedrooms with sleeping bags and mattresses scattered haphazardly across the floor and a small office. The bedrooms contained a variety of clothing, mainly black t-shirts for various bands, biker leathers and a lot of empty cans, and bottles as well as drug-taking paraphernalia. Apparently crystal meth was very popular with the Young Bloods. Though meth was dangerous to mix with alcohol, apparently their status as ghouls, mitigated this, or they just didn't care.
Eric's attention was drawn to a laptop lying closed on a desk in the upstairs office. Though password protected, the security took him mere minutes to bypass.
As far as he could tell, the main purpose of the laptop appeared to be downloading and watching pornography, videos and articles on motorbikes, with some cross-over between the two subjects. It also had some encrypted files on it which he'd need slightly better equipment than he carried with him to decrypt. A fairly sophisticated program for scrubbing data had been installed on the computer but it looked like it was thankfully rarely used.
Scene Eight - Discoveries
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| Vannevar Thomas - Ventrue Former Prince of San Francisco and San Jose |
The communications were mainly from 'V' to 'Z' and included information on known kindred havens in Los Angeles, their security measures and mortal agents. Most of this information was now obsolete as it related to gang operations already carried out, such as the attack on Gloria Martinez's base, the attempted kidnap of a Gangrel from one of the baron-less domains and the attempt to 'acquire' The Circulatory System's transported cargo.
However, there was also a map which had routes marked on it which matched those Eric had noted when investigating Mariel's disappearance. Included was an 'X marks the spot' in the centre of the dead zone which caused him problems during that self-same investigation.
The file containing the map also contained a message, part of which was quite interesting.
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| The Young Bloods 'Bunker' H.Q. |
The fact that they had discovered eight dead bodies indicated that the gang should probably have paid more attention to this advice.
Toby meanwhile had been speaking to Hope and passed on several pieces of useful information.
Eight kindred were currently being held by the Young Bloods, as far as he was aware that is, all in separate cells. One they called 'The First' or 'The Original' was kept in a separate cell block for some reason. A ninth prisoner was recently bought in, just as he himself was being taken out.
She was a blonde woman, quite attractive, in expensive clothes obviously damaged during the struggle, He had heard the guards say that she had killed six of the gang who tried to capture her despite being "Shot full of fucking holes...", and made two others kill each other. One had described her as "Quite a prize.". He believed that she was being taken to the same area as 'The First' though he couldn't be completely certain.
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| Marius 'The Fixer' Walker - Gangrel Baron of Downtown |
"If we're keeping Marius out of this, who do we get to do clean-up?" enquired Eric.
"I'm on it..." replied Hope as she called Mr Hertz. He assured them that he could retrieve all the evidence and clean-up the scene. Though she had a feeling that 'clean-up' actually meant 'burn to the ground'.
As they left the scene with the rescued kindred, Hope tossed an unusual baton to Eric. It was similar in style to police models but had a stake instead of the rounded end. "So?" shrugged Eric.
"So...the last time I saw one of these it was in the hands of a member of the Second Inquisition."
"Oh, Shit..." replied Eric
Interlude - Antitribu
Pierre stumbled backwards over the eviscerated body of one of his pack. Somewhat ironically it was the very one who had questioned the safety of this location.
He drew upon the the dark gifts of thaumaturgy granted to him by his demonic masters and hurled flames drawn from the inferno of hell itself towards the foe who had obliterated his followers. The advancing creature shrugged off the flames as easily as he had resisted the dark plague that Pierre had first used in his own defence.
Fires of the Inferno - Dark Thaumaturgy
Seven of his pack had been torn to pieces in the opening seconds of the ambush. Only when the creature had paused to diablerise Evelyn had he got a glimpse of the foe. They were athletically built, skin grey like stone, their features bat-like, the prehensile wings that had propelled them into the midst of the pack were now folded at their back.
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| Necrotic Venom - Vicissitude Modifications |
Resorting to more basic gifts, the sole survivor of The Orphans, attacked with supernatural speed and strength. Each blow was easily avoided or simply ignored. Seemingly tired of the game, the gargoyle like monstrosity grasped him by the throat and lifted him into the air one-handed. The voice that emerged was surprisingly civilised when compared to the fanged maw from which it issued.
"Tell me more about these incoming allies of yours, Antoine Le Fanu in particular, and I'll grant you a swift final death, and more importantly, I'll leave your soul exactly where it is..." The blood that Pierre spat in their face, made his intentions clear.
Marius Walker - In His True Form
"Fine..." said Marius, as he sliced the very tip of a claw into his victims cheek. "...but you should know that in small doses this venom won't kill you, merely cause you agonizing pain that will make you wish you took me up on my earlier offer..."
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Cairo had dressed to compliment her lord, wearing black leather and had dozens of body piercings. She had a stocky frame and shocking red hair, but Meredith had informed Marius that she once looked very different. Pierre had replaced Elisa's lithe form and long black hair with the appearance she now wore.
"Your form has been twisted, and your mind enslaved. Pledge yourself to me and it is within my power to restore both. Normally I'd destroy one of your clan on sight, yet alone a member of the Sabbat but I will make an exception in your case. After all, there are so few of you left..."
Cairo the Lost Knight, formally Elisa Karini, Clan Ravnos antitribu, realised she had nothing whatsoever to lose.
"You have my pledge..." she whispered and surprised herself when she realised that she actually meant it.
Storytellers Note - Antitribu simply means anti-tribe and applies to any Clan member not in their traditional sect, so a Sabbat Ventrue or a Camarilla Tzimisce, etc.
Acknowledgements
“Portions of the materials are the copyrights and trademarks of White Wolf Entertainment AB, and are used with permission. All rights reserved.”
“Portions of the materials are the copyrights and trademarks of White Wolf Entertainment AB, and are used with permission. All rights reserved.”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, Lia is Shelly D'inferno, Atarah is Madonna Ciccone, Gloria Martinez is Ariadne Artiles, Allison Maller is Chloe Grace-Moretz, Mariel St. John is Kate Moss, Myranda Marie is Shannyn Visceral, Isaac Abrams is Gary Oldman, Cai Arias is Brian Molko, 'Zipper' is Johnny Galecki, Catherine DuBois is Margot Robbie, Andrew Francis is Ray Stephenson, 'Dion' is Clark Gregg, Tobias 'Toby' Moore is Marc Blucas, Vannevar Thomas is Bryan Dechart and Marius Walker is Tony Curran.
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.
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