Vampire the Masquerade - V5 - Solo Session - ' Methuselah' (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. 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

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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, Two, Three, Four, Five, 

Story Twenty - 'The MacNeil Protocols' - Part Six, Seven, Eight, Nine and Ten

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Interlude Session One - After Griffith Park

Interlude Session Two - Divide and Conquer

Interlude Session Three - On the Brink of War

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Chronicle Four - 'Conquest L.A.'

Story Twenty One - 'Veni, Vidi, Victor' - Part One, Two, Three, Four, Five

Story Twenty One - 'Veni, Vidi, Victor' - Part Six, and Epilogue

Story Twenty Two - 'The Unbound' - Part One, Two, Three and Four

Story Twenty Three - 'The War Council' - Part One, Two, Three and Four

Interlude Session - Recon

Story Twenty Four - 'Resistance' - Part One, Two, Three, Four and Five

Interlude Session - Damage Limitation

Interlude Session - The Killing Spree

Story Twenty Five - 'Personal Agendas' - Part One, Two and Three

Story Twenty Six - 'Strange Bedfellows' - Part One, Two, Three, Four, Five and Six

Story Twenty Seven - 'The Fiorenza Sanction' - Part One, Two and Three

Story Twenty Eight - 'Hunters Hunted' - Part One, Two, Three, Four and Five

Story Twenty Eight - 'Hunters Hunted' - Epilogue

Solo Session - 'The Barony of the Angels'

Solo Session - 'The Salubri Tome'

Story Twenty Nine - 'Methuselah' - Part One and Two

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The PC

Dr Daniel Matthews - Banu Haqim, 'Fixer'

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), Kidnap, Sexual Assault (Implied).

Introduction.

Marius has reappeared after what was supposedly a four night absence, though it ended up as six, and has requested your presence in one of the many rooms in his multi-level penthouse apartment.

Scene One -  A Choice

An Interesting Sword Collection

Daniel had never been in this area before, but would quantify it as a prep room for whatever solo operations Marius engaged in. A wide variety of swords and knives were in mounts along one wall next to a selection of high powered firearms, complete with a variety of ammunition types. 

Grenades were also available, in every configuration one might need.

All of the melee weapons were well made and apparently quite functional, not merely decorative. There was also a selection of nondescript, hard wearing, dark coloured clothing, body armour ranging from state of the art, back to the ancient and obsolete, and a bewildering array of high tech equipment, though it looked like next to none of the technological devices had ever been used. 

Additionally there was a large, and quite ornate cabinet, whose drawers were firmly locked. Many old leather-bound books were on a bookshelf alongside it as well as a selection of jars containing various unidentifiable herbs and other dubious substances.

Advanced Crossbow Designs - Marius's Armoury

He also had a collection of bows and crossbows ranging from traditionally made models to contemporary versions constructed from more modern materials. Apparently Marius didn't like throwing things away as weaponry spanning nearly seven centuries of development were spread across this preparation area. A selection of boards graced another wall, with various pictures connected by string-lines, and others with what looked like family trees on them. The central family tree seemed to be an attempt by Marius to keep track of his many childer, grandechilder, their packs, and beyond.

A 'Family Tree' of Sorts, Possibly Spurious, Certainly Outdated

Some had numbers next to them with the occasional question mark added. Daniel guessed that this was the suspected generation of those kindred. Given his bloodlines tendency towards diablerie, there was considerable variance in these. There were also many gaps. Apparently being of Marius's bloodline was no guarantee of a long unlife. Quite the opposite in fact.

SilencerCo Maxim 9 handgun

On a table in the middle of the room, were a pair of holstered handguns with built in suppressors, a pair of karambits and a long straight blade like a modern version of a ninjato, all on combat harnesses. There was also a sap, a lead weight wrapped in leather, next to a belt pouch designed to contain it. This collection was completed by two leather satchels, with a number of sealable pouches on each.

"If you really want to know what I'm doing, pick those up and follow me. Or never ask again. I won't hold it against you if you refuse, but if you accompany me, then you'll need to accept the potential need to defend yourself. The choice is yours..."

Daniel opened up the first of the two satchels.

It contained, two vials, each containing a live house spider, a thin mirror, a silver bowl, an ornate knife, several pebbles of iron ore and what looked like the burnt bones and feathers of some bird, possibly a rooster or similar. These were all ingredients used in Blood Sorcery rituals of varying power levels. 

Powerful Sedatives

Evidently Marius had no exact idea of how proficient Daniel had become and so had covered a wide variety of possibilities. 

The second satchel contained a comprehensive but fairly standard medical kit. 

The only difference was that this one contained several strong sedatives not normally amongst a paramedics standard gear. It also contained a few other pieces of medical equipment that were less suited to healing and more to interrogation. He imagined this was a kit that belonged not to Marius but to Victoria.

Somewhat uneasily, Daniel removed one of the handguns from it's holster and checked it's balance. He also removed the magazine, saw that it was fully loaded and then reloaded the weapon. 

He noted that the 9mm ammunition within was armour piercing, and therefore banned in the United States since the year 1986. He doubted that meant much to Marius or his agents.

The Sabbat AKA
'The Sword of Caine'

"Okay..." Said Daniel, somewhat reluctantly. "...I'm in..."

Marius accepted the response and began to brief Daniel on the situation.

"While you gear up, I'll give you some background..."

"There are two Sabbat Packs in Los Angeles and two more on the way. Each one is connected to another in a chain of association back to two Sabbat Methusalah who operate in this part of the USA. I intend to ensure the so-called Sword of Caine never threaten my operations again, either by entirely destroying all the Packs under their control, or luring them here and removing the head of the snake, so to speak."

"Our kind speak of the jihad as if it is centred on the Middle East but I assure you there are still Sabbat everywhere else too."

"I am accomplishing this by provoking them, mainly by destroying their allies or disrupting their operations by proxy. This has enabled me to eliminate them piecemeal. Of course this strategy is now becoming untenable, as I expected it eventually would, so now I need to hit the last few before they can unite. This should then leave my primary targets isolated and, relatively speaking, vulnerable. Or as vulnerable as they're ever likely to be."

"However some recon will be necessary first. It of course goes without saying that I'm not about to take you off hunting a Methuselah, even though these particular ones barely qualify to be called as such. That hunt you won't be getting an invite to..."

"This is your last chance to change your mind...So?"

Scene Two - Infiltration

Yukio Hayashi - Ancient Ghoul
Assassin and Ghoul of Marius

As far as the Banu Haqim was concerned he was now committed, so said nothing. Marius took this as confirmation and as he left the room, Daniel followed. As they vacated the prep room, Daniel had a quick look around to see what equipment Marius had himself taken and could see nothing missing. 

Well, almost nothing. Daniel was sure that their had been a bandolier of wooden stakes, on a hook near the crossbows, that was no longer there. 

A nondescript and subtly armoured vehicle was waiting for them in one of the private parking areas below Hallowbrook. Yukio, Marius's second most ancient ghoul, tossed a set of keys to 'The Fixer' who promptly handed them to Daniel. "You can drive..." 

It wasn't a question. 

Though having seen Marius drive, he would have volunteered to do so himself anyway. The fact that the Baron of Downtown was born over five centuries before the first commercial automobile even existed, may have been a factor. Though skilled in the use of most other technological advancements, the motor car wasn't really one of them and Daniel understood why Marius generally had a chauffeur. Apparently on this occasion that driver was to be him.

Priss - Lasombra
'The Shades', Barony of the Angels

Marius wasn't in a talkative mood, merely giving him directions when the choice wasn't obvious. He stopped him a few times to make phone calls, which seemed to be to operatives on the border between what was once Priss's domain and that of The Crypts Sons. Daniel's assessment was correct.

"We're about to enter the domain of The Crypts Sons, and I haven't asked permission. Fortunately they're spread a bit thin, especially as your former Baron Michael has recalled Hertz and Vin. You'd be surprised how difficult it is to sneak past Vin's army of beggars, bums and street walkers. Luckily they left when he did."

Daniel informed Marius that he understood. He had extensive experience of entering places unannounced and had only been caught once. On that occasion, Isaac Abrams, Baron of Hollywood had commanded him to cut off his own trigger finger and offer it to Isaac. Michael, Daniel's own Baron, had been uncharacteristically angered at the time, though he and Isaac had straightened things out since then. He had subsequently regenerated the severed digit but the memory of the event was still quite vivid.

As they travelled, he noted that much of the former areas primarily controlled by the mortal Crypts Sons gang members, actually fell into Priss's domain and were now under the umbrella of the new Barony of the Angel's, or Downtown as it once was. Though this had opened some more valuable real estate for the gang, it was somewhat out of their comfort zone. Gang members were now far more noticeable here.

Kayne Lowe - Lasombra
Sabbat, The Crypts Sons, Destroyed

"Are we going after some of the Crypts Sons infiltrators?" asked Daniel. The answer was no. Marius stated his opinion that '"We got all of those fuckers...this is...someone else..."

"What numbers are we dealing with?" queried Daniel. 

"One pack of Sabbat consisting of four kindred of various clans, maybe a fifth too but that's highly unlikely. They'll also have ghouls patrolling the perimeter I imagine. Not many though, no more than a dozen, hopefully a lot less."

Daniel asked about the other pack mentioned in Marius's briefing but was told that "...they're a long way away, for now..." Marius then asked him to turn down a narrow side road, where an open door to a garage was waiting. "We're going for a walk. The car will, well, should, be safe here." Apparently just presuming that he'd follow, Marius cleared the five metres from the ground to a nearby fire escape and started to climb to the roof.

Daniel followed the same way. His dexterity was excellent and his sense of balance supernatural. This combined with a talent for parkour made keeping pace fairly simple.

Marius moved silently, every footfall measured, yet seemingly without effort. Where he needed to climb, he did so with either claws or the strength of his grip. Gaps between buildings were no impediment as he cleared them in single leaps. 

Los Angeles Rooftops - At Night

Daniel noticed that the shadows seem to deepen and flow around him as he moved, presumably it would appear the same to someone observing he himself given his recently acquired new abilities.

Marius then flowed past a courting couple, without them even turning a head and slipped by a group of gangbangers resolving some matter of internal discipline by beating the shit out of one of their own.

Daniel also bypassed these impediments without anyone noticing his presence. Though he hadn't used these skills for some time, he had apparently lost none of his talents at utilising them effectively.

Observing the Baron of Downtown had also revealed certain things to Daniel. Firstly, Marius's supernatural talents of Obfuscation were less developed than Daniel's own, though his ability to utilise the shadows to cover his tracks via the use of what Clan Lasombra called Oblivion, were far superior.

Where Daniel concealed himself through use of his Clan's powers, Marius relied more so on mundane means. Yet centuries of hunting and killing had certainly made a difference. Marius's stealth, despite being natural, still bordered on the supernatural. With six centuries of practice, Daniel would have been surprised if they weren't.

Scene Three - Revenants

Sleazy Motel at Night - Los Angeles

After ten minutes more travel they found themselves on a shadowy balcony overlooking a motel and a nearby warehouse.

"The former base of a Crypts Sons associated gang." says Marius indicating the two buildings. "A Sabbat Pack imprisoned them and fed on them piecemeal. They were meant to support the hit on us but something changed their minds. Anyway, let's have a closer look." Marius then casually stepped off the balcony, dropped the six stories to the ground without making a sound then moved around the back of the run-down, but apparently still operating, motel.

Daniel looked at the drop and decided against casually hurling himself down six stories. Reaching into one of the satchel's provided he removed the bowl and a container, within which was an unfortunate spider. After crushing the arachnid into a bowl filled with his own vitae he awakened the power within the blood using a basic but effective ritual. Once it was complete, Daniel moved to the outside wall of the building and climbed down, clinging to the outside of the building like an insect.

Blood Sorcery Ritual
'Clinging of the Insect'

By the time he reached the bottom and rounded the corner where Marius went, the Gangrel had disappeared. Daniel concluded that even given Marius's speed he would be hard pressed to move that swiftly so he must be either on the motel roof, or have slipped into the motel through a nearby door.

It didn't take much investigating to discover that the door was covered by a security panel of steel bars and judging from the rust, hadn't been used in years. As this was now eliminated as a possibility, he scaled the walls and headed towards the roof.

Marius was crouched on the buildings flat roof, almost completely invisible within the shadows. Nearby was a dead man, their cracked skull matching a blood stain on the roof. There was also a bolt action rifle and scope, presumably theirs, still leaning against a rooftop ventilation outlet. As he approached, Marius put a finger to his lips to indicate silence and pointed to the other end of the long, narrow roof. Using his own preternatural senses, Daniel discerned another two men further away. One also had a rifle and the second began to walk towards the opposite end of the roof where they were hiding.

'An Unfortunate Accident?'

Marius pointed at his own chest, then towards the man before making a throat slitting gesture. He then repeated the motion but pointed at Daniel instead of himself, and shrugged his shoulders. The message was obvious. Marius would kill them if necessary as this was the easy option, for any other outcome to occur, Daniel would need to do the job.

Doctor Matthews observed the corpse at his feet. Their head had been caved in, the wound matching the corner of a ventilation shaft nearby. Evidently Marius had caught them by surprise and driven their head into the nearest solid object with fatal results. It did however occur to Daniel that he had no idea who these people actually were and so was hesitant to murder them without any evidence of their guilt. He therefore indicated to Marius that he could do as he pleased.

The Gangrel elder moved with devastating speed, killing the closest man with a single blow before appearing in front of the furthest and snapping their neck one-handed. He was back next to Daniel before the bodies had even hit the ground.

Marius Walker - Gangrel, Baron of Downtown, A Quick Kill

"Okay. Spotters neutralised. Now let's have a look inside..."

As the attack had begun, Daniel, out of curiosity had tasted a small drop of the first victims blood in an attempt to identify what exactly they were. 

The results were confusing. Though broadly speaking their blood indicated that they were ghouls of some kind, there was also just a hint that made him think they were in fact kindred. He'd tasted the vitae of both Duskborn and Caitiff and this was very different. He decided to just ask the question.

A Revenant of the Tzimisce

"They're of the Zantosas revenant family, ghouls bred from ghouls and all inherently corrupt and insane, most are addicted to something, drugs, sex, torture, or some fucked up combination of the three. Not all revenants are this fucked up, these are the worst of the worst though, well maybe not but they're certainly in the top two. The Bratovitches are arguably worse, well, more prone to violence at least."

Daniel had heard the term 'Revenant' before. Specifically Marius had described his P.A. Victoria as "...an early Tzimisce experiment in creating Revenants..." Daniel, being Daniel, wanted Marius to elaborate.

"Ghoul characteristics can, though it's not fucking easy, be inherited through several generations of ghouls through the breeding efforts of their vampire masters, mainly Tzimisce though the Tremere have done it too, maybe others as well, but ninety percent of them are Tzimisce creations. So basically, 'revenants' are ghouls for whom the condition has become hereditary, and are capable of generating vitae within their own veins. It's piss-water compared to actual vitae though." 

"The end result in a family of revenants; ghouls whose bodies naturally produce vitae. They age about a quarter as fast as a mortal, they're tougher and they can learn disciplines. They get some of our flaws too, mainly the frenzy thing. They're also inbred a lot and spending a lot of time around the Tzimisce hasn't exactly helped with their sanity. Take the emotional problems of the average ghoul and multiple it by a factor of ten then add in cannibalism, incest, necrophilia, zoophilia, and general insanity and you get a fair idea of revenant family life."

Suddenly Daniel felt much less guilty about watching Marius kill two of the bastards.

Victoria Anne - Ancient Ghoul of Marius, Revenant?, Psychopath

"So what does that make Victoria?" asked Daniel casually. "It makes her none of your fucking business..." replied Marius. "...now can we got on with what we actually came here for?"

Apparently his education on revenants was now over.

Scene Four - The Pack

Four more revenant guards were patrolling the outer perimeter in two pairs. All looked twitchy, and it didn't take a medical genius to tell that they were all on powerful stimulants of some description. Daniel was professionally unimpressed with how many holes they'd left in their perimeter patrol route. Still, at least it made them easy to bypass.

Abandoned 'Crypts Sons' Warehouse

Marius jumped up and grabbed the top edge of the warehouse roof in a single leap and disappeared over the edge. Daniel followed by simply scaling the walls like a spider. As he reached the roof, he noticed Marius crouched by a skylight looking downwards.

Looking down through the skylight himself, he could see a group of kindred, presumably Sabbat. This was apparently the group they were here to observe. Marius decided to give Daniel some background on each of them.

"The one doing all the talking is their ductus, the pack leader, Miguel. He was a Brazilian pirate. 7th generation Brujah via diablerie. Dangerous, yes, but quite careful after losing most of his pack in some battle or other...it was nothing to do with me, before you ask..."

"The tall muscular lady with the pointy ears is a City Gangrel named Celeste."

Célèste Lamontagne - City Gangrel
The Sabbat, The Navigators Pack

"She has an almost religious obsession with nature, which life with the Sabbat hasn't dulled. She thought the Sabbat were like-minded, mistaking their goals for hers, now she's bound to them via the Vinculum. She's more a guide than a killer, knows her way through werewolf territory, though she can fight if she has to, she'd rather not. The only reason she hasn't been culled yet is because her sire is a fairly well respected Sabbat from one of the oldest packs, besides which Miguel needs the numbers. It wont be much longer before they destroy her though. Thinking about it, she might actually be worth saving..."

"The Gargoyle is called Erinyi, follows the Sabbat as she wholeheartedly agrees with their opinion of themselves as the deserved rulers of humanity. She's a walking masquerade breach too, and rejoices in the fact. No possible redemption for that one..."

"The last fucker is a problem. The body he's wearing belongs to a Sabbat Inquisitor named Santiago De Soto, Miguel's sire. The soul within is that of an infernalist named Sangris the Serpent, who claimed it via some ritual of dark thaumaturgy when he was destroyed. He is yet to reclaim his demonic heritage so the body currently has none of the signs of his true allegiance."

"I only discovered this when I diablerised who I thought was Sangris, and the soul within was DeSato's. I know, right? It confused the fuck out of me too." 

Santiago DeSoto
Sangris the Serpent

"Don't feel bad for DeSato though. He might not have been an infernalist but he was definitely a murdering bastard. When you're infamous even amongst the Sabbat, that's a fair indicator of how much of a cunt you are..."

"The rest are the last few of their revenants. No Tzimisce to pull in new recruits from the ghoul families you see, so what they have is all that's left. I thought there were a few more though..."

Daniel had never seen a Gargoyle though he had a fair idea of what they looked like based on Vin and Hope's descriptions of them. Vin had destroyed one once, and fought another with Hope. He freely admitted however, that without the interference of Luna Demian, the second one probably would have wasted the pair of them.

"Didn't you say there might be a fifth?" prompted Daniel. Marius shrugged. Either he didn't know or didn't care.

Just then, Daniel heard a van pull onto the small industrialized area. as Marius was still observing the Sabbat, he went and investigated himself.

Scene Five - Takeout

Bound Prisoner of The Sabbat

Three more revenants are dragging four bound, cuffed, blindfolded and gagged mortals with them from the van. The male prisoner is struggling weakly, blood is pouring from a nasty head wound that will likely prove fatal if not treated soon. The woman's clothes are torn as if from a struggle, from this angle it looks like her arm is broken, her begging for the lives of her children is falling on uncaring ears. The third revenant is dragging two children, one is unmoving, possibly catatonic from fear, the other is crying for her mother who she can obviously hear talking.

"There's the rest..." says Marius, peering over Daniel's shoulder. "...looks like the pack sent them out to fetch lunch..."

Daniel realised he was holding one of the handguns but couldn't even remember drawing it. Marius looked down at the weapon but said nothing as he returned to the skylight to continue his observations.

From their vantage point, they could see the family being dragged inside. Miguel, the Pack Ductus, spoke to the revenants. "Take the blindfold and gags off, I want them to see what's happening... and its not as enjoyable without the screams..."

Revenant Kidnapper and Sabbat 'Takeout'

Daniel could see that the Gangrel Celeste seemed uncomfortable with the situation, but was also making no effort to assist. Her desire to be away from the situation was obvious, as was the vinculum induced impulse to show loyalty to her Pack. The other pack members however couldn't have looked more eager if they tried.

"I can't let them do what they're about to do..." began Daniel. Marius had his own assessment of the situation.

"Not one of the kindred down there are easy kills. You can't hesitate or second guess yourself. Two of them are of the seventh generation, though the Gangrel having second thoughts is merely 9th. The weakest in the blood is the gargoyle, but that weakness will be subverted heavily by the inherent sturdiness of her Bloodline."

"There's also the issue that the family down there have probably heard some things that mortals aren't meant to know. Of course the flipside is that if we do nothing they'll probably get played with for a bit, then killed. Which admittedly sorts out any masquerade problems... Sabbat games aren't exactly designed with fun in mind, well, not for the victims anyway..."

Daniel knew that Marius had access to people who could modify memories. They had done so for both Hope's sister and the actress that Michael was sponsoring, Shawna Jones. Failing that he knew that Baron Fortier's most favoured childe and mistress, Catherine DuBois also had access to those with similar talents.

Catherine DuBois - Ventrue, Childe and Mistress of Baron Fortier

"Whatever your price, I'll pay it..." began Daniel with complete conviction. "...but with or without you I'm rescuing that family."

"Without me..." clarified Marius. "...you'll be committing suicide...and the family will die anyway..."

Scene Six - Death From Above

Spiral Pattern Stakes

Marius folded back the lining of his jacket to reveal several hardwood stakes, of which he handed Daniel two. They felt weighted, had a spiral pattern to them, and had been machine sharpened to a vicious point. 

"Snakewood?" asked Daniel who had seen such weapons in the hands of the Second Inquisition. "Australian Buloke, actually..." replied Marius "...but the general effect is the same..."

Marius's plan was simple, but was probably the best they could come up with under the circumstances. "You save the family, I'll keep the Sabbat off your back while you do. Agreed? One more thing. No action is without consequences, you need to understand that even acts of good can have unfortunate knock-on effects down the line."

Daniel agreed that he understood. "Do you?" asked Marius somewhat cryptically. "I don't think you do..."

Marius Walker - Gangrel Elder
Baron, Fixer, Diablerist

As the former assassin prepared his equipment he noticed that Marius had dropped the illusion of normality he wore for the benefit of others. His face was somewhere between wolf and bat, his skin grey like stone, and prehensile wings had unfolded from his back. The much larger form Daniel had seen him use in mass combats wasn't being utilised here for some reason, but as he transformed, the power of his predatory aura almost stopped the Banu Haqim in his tracks.

Once Daniel was as ready as he was likely to be, Marius stepped onto the glass and crashed downwards through the skylight.

The winged monstrosity headed straight for Celeste, and drove a stake through her heart before the others could react. As she dropped to the floor he turned to the others, and spread his clawed arms and wings outwards in a manner that invited their attention. "I hope you fucks are more of a challenge than The Orphans were." It looked to Daniel as if he was deliberately drawing their attention from their prey, to give him a chance to rescue the family...or perhaps he was just being an asshole...

Daniel slipped through the shattered skylight and clung to the warehouse roof, noting the position of the revenants holding the family. None had yet moved. Apparently they believed that their three remaining masters were more than a match for one kindred ambusher.

Had he been alive, the distance from his position to the ground might have given him some pause for thought. Instead he released his grip, drew both weapons in mid air and fired two shots. The revenant holding the children and the other holding the man each died instantly as armour-piercing rounds pierced both of their foreheads. 

'Not Daniel's preferred paired weapons, but they'll have to do...'

Before the third of the revenants could react, he too was dead as a pair of bullets entered his brain via his eye sockets and punched their way out through the back of his skull.

Daniel retrieved the van keys from the pocket of the revenant he'd seen emerging from the vehicles drivers side earlier and was pleased to discover that one also had the key to the handcuffs restraining the male prisoner. He attempted to hand them to the rescued family as he gave them their instructions. "Get back in the van, we'll come back for you." shouted Daniel to the family, intending to go and help Marius. 

Blood-Stained Key - Handcuffed Prisoner

Unfortunately the family were still in shock and did nothing, forcing him to corral them to the vehicle himself. It looked like Marius was on his own for now.

As he vacated the building, the two pairs of patrolling guards appeared from opposite sides of the warehouse perimeter. One of these was armed with a shotgun. Concluding that this was the greatest threat to both him and the terrified family, Daniel decided to kill him first. The first shot had the unerring accuracy of his previous kills but the second target was obscured. Daniel cursed as he missed the second of the revenants as they dived for the shotgun that their dead partner had been carrying. The second pair moved towards the family now huddled in the warehouse doorway. 

It briefly occurred to Daniel that ironically Michael would be really useful to have about right now. His ability to make people either terrified of him or worship the ground he walked upon would have made neutralising the guards and motivating the family, more or less, childsplay. Though on that note, Vin or Hope would be useful too, though for very different reasons.

He covered the distance to the pair threatening the rescued mortals in a blur, and switching to his karambit's, cut the first one into bloody chunks. The second was using the family as a shield and was out of reach.

Shotgun Blast - Shot in the Back

As he contemplated his next move, he heard the distinctive sound of a shotgun being fired and a moment later felt like he'd been punched in the back half a dozen times. Swearing once more he dropped the blades, drew one of the pistols and put the rest of the magazines rounds through the shotgun wielding revenants heart. A sharp pain across his ribs drew his attention to the one surviving enemy.

Daniel drove the butt of his gun firmly into their nose. As they staggered back he calmly drew the other still loaded pistol and put a round through their throat, before pulling them in close and drinking deeply. As he fed he looked for the bladed weapon the revenant had used against him but could see nothing. Then he noticed the bones of their forearm had somehow forced their way through his flesh in order to make an improvised melee weapon. Apparently these revenants had some interesting tricks up their sleeves.

Now at least he could get the family into the van and go and help Marius who, judging from the noises within, was still engaged with the Sabbat pack.

Scene Seven - Death From Above...Again...

Erinyi - Gargoyle
The Sabbat, The Navigators Pack

As he cajoled the family forwards once more, a window high on the side of the warehouse exploded outwards in a shower of glass and steel. The gargoyle Marius called Erinyi had emerged and was apparently searching for whoever had taken away their entertainment for the night.

She was some seven feet tall, though eight inches of that were the curled horns atop her head. Her grey wings moved unnaturally as if they are only partially responsible for keeping her airborne, a trait Daniel had first observed when he saw Marius use the same ability. In fact, their were a great deal of similarities between Marius's current form and that of the Gargoyle. Daniel imagined that Marius must have diablerised quite a lot of them. 

As she saw him below, she dived towards him at considerable speed.

As he made eye contact with her he felt the urge to either submit or retreat. With an effort of will he tore his gaze from hers and then was gone in the blink of an eye. As he turned to the spot where a moment ago he had been standing and expected her to land. She instead seemed to flow into the ground as if it was liquid, not stone, and disappeared from sight. As a student of tactics, he presumed that she would attempt to emerge behind him and turned around. Releasing both the half empty and completely empty magazines from his weapons he reloaded each handgun with a fresh, fully-loaded one.

Illegal Armour Piercing 9mm Bullet

All Daniel knew about Gargoyles was second hand, but as they were kindred of sorts he hoped that they shared vampiric weaknesses. Sunlight wasn't an option, neither was fire. Hopefully her head and heart were still viable targets though. As Erinyi emerged exactly where he had guessed she would, Daniel put multiple rounds into the Gargoyles head.

Flesh like stone deflected several of the rounds, though one still penetrated through her eye, removed a chunk of her skull and emerged from the back of her head. He was therefore somewhat surprised when she kept on coming. Before he could attempt another shot she was upon him, and sliced across his chest and side with fingers tipped with claws that had the appearance of obsidian. They wounds were deep, but fortunately had failed to reach their target, which he presumed had been his heart. 

Ninjato Short Sword - Daniel's Back-up Blade

"Okay, you murdering fucking bitch..." spat Daniel, with genuine hatred in his voice. "...if you want to end this up close and personal, then that's fine by me..." He then drew the straight blade that Marius had given him earlier and leapt at his opponent. The Banu Haqim was a master of the blade and dealt his foe many blows that would have finished a lesser opponent. Despite many terrible injuries Erinyi kept on coming and had inflicted several unpleasant wounds upon Daniel in return.

Realising he needed to end this quickly, the assassin gripped his short-sword two handed and drove it into the Gargoyles throat with all his strength, almost severing her head from it's shoulders. As she staggered backwards, Daniel reached down for the two pistols he'd dropped to the ground, took careful aim and emptied the remaining thirty or so armour-piercing rounds into her head and neck. 

Ritual Scarification - Bahari Ritual

As the decapitated creature fell to the ground all that occurred to Daniel was that Hope would be insanely jealous that he'd added a Gargoyle to his kill-count before she had.

As he stared down at the body, the urge to lap up it's vitae and attempt to drain it's soul before it was too late began to overcome him. 

Remembering the lessons he'd received from the Bahari, he cut himself deeply and focussed upon the pain, restoring his strength of will as he did so. Reluctantly he turned away, then a feeling of elation filled him. If he could resist the urge this once, then perhaps he could do so again. 

Though he dared not relax, this victory over the Beast gave him more confidence than he'd possessed in a long time.

Scene Eight - Consequences

Marius emerged from the warehouse with the staked 'City' Gangrel thrown over one shoulder. 

Marius Walker - Gangrel, Severely Wounded in the Battle

Vitae, near black in colour, seeped from multiple wounds to his chest, neck and side. One of his wings looked like a desiccated, almost mummified husk of bone and skin, atrophied by some dark power. The rest of his body was effectively painted red in what was presumably his enemies own vitae. As he approached Daniel he began to regenerate the most severe of his wounds, but lacked the vitae to repair himself entirely.

The Revenants Van - Outside Warehouse

"Well we can't go back the way we came with this lot in tow so I guess we'll have to steal this fucking van. I could conceivably carry us all but flying across the city two at a time is going to put one hell of a dent in the masquerade..."

Daniel could see that Marius was fighting to resist the urge to frenzy, no doubt due to a combination of his hunger, and anger at having had a reconnaissance turn into a massacre due to Daniel's moral decision.

Marius turned to the family that Daniel had rescued and for a moment he feared that the Gangrel would slake his hunger on them. "You lot. Get the fuck in the back of that van and shut the fuck up." It wasn't the most subtle use of dominate that Daniel had ever observed but it did the job. He then casually tossed the remains of the gargoyle in there with them and reiterated his command for them to keep quiet, though somewhat less aggressively this time.

Dr Melissa Russell - Ghoul
Aegis Pharmaceutical

"If I'm driving us back to Hallowbrook, you might want to think about your appearance a bit." prompted Daniel. "Believe me..." replied Marius. "...the last thing you want is me expending any more vitae, so I guess I'll be sitting in the fucking back."

'The Fixer' had obviously rang ahead as a medical team was waiting for them in the underground carpark of Hallowbrook, along with Victoria and Leanna. Once the family had been taken away and only Victoria remained, Marius himself emerged from the van. 

As he approached Victoria she offered him her arm so he could feed. As he drank, his features slowly changed until he once more wore his public face, though his unhealed wounds remained.

As Victoria stepped back, the wound on her arm healed without any action from Marius and the pair exchanged a look. If "I told you so..." could have been expressed in a single facial expression, then that was what Victoria's features were saying. Marius then turned to Daniel.

"Get yourself cleaned up and meet me in my garden in an hour. There's some things we need to discuss..."

--------------------

Marius was sat on one of the stone benches surrounding the altar in his temple to Lilith and Ennoia. No others were present, it was just the two of them. 

Marius's Temple to Lilith and Ennoia

The Baron was wearing loose, functional clothing and all his wounds appeared to be healed. Daniel himself had been fed enough to heal his own wounds but had left the weapons provided to him in the temporary quarters he had at Hallowbrook. If Marius intended him harm, Daniel doubted that a handgun and a knife would be much help.

"Am I in trouble?" asked Daniel.

Marius shook his head. "I was warned against taking you, so that was my mistake. We do however need to discuss the potential consequences of what we did tonight."

"The Sabbat are sure to accelerate their timeline now which means an attack upon the Free States is going to occur sooner rather than later. My advice to you would be to go and warn Michael, and prepare your former baronies defences. Hope and Vin are dangerous enough but they don't really plan ahead, and prevention is better than a cure as I'm sure I don't need to tell a doctor."

Leanna - Duskborn
'Shepherdess' of Marius's 'Herd'

Daniel began to realise exactly what Marius had meant earlier when he had warned him of the consequences of what he had been about to do.

"The family we rescued?" enquired Daniel as they were still on his mind.

"Leanna will do what she does best. They'll leave here with a very different recollection of the events of tonight than the reality. The details I've left to her. They'll live and will do so because of you, if that's any consolation. I'd have let them die but I'm sure you realised that. Whether the cost incurred by our actions is worth the lives of four mortals, only time will tell."

"What do I owe you?" asked Daniel, who had promised to pay whatever price Marius demanded.

Marius didn't look as if he'd even considered the matter. "If anything comes to mind, I'll let you know..." he replied.

Sensing that the conversation was over, Daniel left. Now he just needed to work out how he was going to explain the situation to Michael Tomassio, Baron of the North East.

Interlude - Thirst

Victoria Anne - Ancient Ghoul
Marius's Personal Assistant

Victoria drew a line through the name of another Sabbat Pack, and added the identity of the sole survivor to a separate list. Marius was barely paying attention as he finished sating his desires on his third blood doll since awakening, before summoning a fourth and fifth.

"There are only two of your deep cover agents left to extract now..." stated Victoria to Marius, ignoring the steadily increasing number of mostly naked, semi-conscious blood dolls currently scattered around the room. "Those two, the three potential turncoats and the one within L.A. that already went native should be enough to accomplish the secondary goals of this project..."

"Our timeline may have been accelerated by the premature destruction of The Navigators Pack in The Crypts Sons territory..." added Marius, paying attention again. "... but that mistake was mine. Daniel would have attempted to rescue that family whether I helped or not, and so I was forced to chose between their final deaths or his. Those foes were beyond his capabilities. We'll see if I chose poorly or not..."

Victoria kept her council on this matter to herself. Daniel was a useful asset once, and perhaps might be so again, but in her opinion taking him on the reconnaissance had been a strategic error. She had said so already. Repeating the point gained her nothing.

She suspected that Marius had some sympathy for Daniel as they both had issues with sires who had used them for their own purposes but again she kept the opinion to herself.

"A Sabbat attack is likely, but against mortal assets, not kindred, based on their current movements..." continued Victoria "...and we therefore need to decide which of those we prevent, and which...we don't..."

Heather Taylor - Ghoul
Ghoul of Marius, Touchstone

Victoria waited as her regnant pondered the question. Just as she was considering prompting him once more, he made his decision. As he spoke she made a mental note to ensure that Heather was summoned back to Hallowbrook as soon as possible. Irritating as she was, Marius tended to maintain a grip on his humanity much more successfully when she was around.

"Protect what's ours, fuck everyone else. I'm bored of protecting these children for free, and still being the villain of their tales. If they want their shit cleaned up then they can pay the price..." 

Victoria would have liked to have used the opportunity to accumulate some favours with other useful kindred, but Marius had clearly made up his mind. He was always like this between multiple diablerie's and the subsequent rituals that bought him back from the edge. The lack of impulse control and borderline psychotic outbursts, not to mention the subsequent wear and tear on his blood dolls, was something Victoria was used to enduring. Therefore she answered as she always did. "As you wish." 

She then continued. "Daniel is certain to attempt to protect Michael and the North East Baronies now he's aware of the threat. Do we care about that?"

Marius merely shrugged before beckoning over one of his herd and feeding from her with little to no regard for her wellbeing. At least it was only blood he desired from this one, she mused. Voyeurism wasn't really one of her fetishes and even if it was, four times was a little too much.

"If there's anything else I'll be in the garden..." stated Marius as he headed towards the stairs. "...and send me up another couple of blood dolls..."

Victoria waited until he had left and then rang Dr Melissa Russell, another of Marius's ghouls and current head of Aegis's in-house medical team as well as being a director of Aegis Pharmaceutical.

"Send up a medic will you. I've got another one here that needs attention." 

"Is this going to be a long night?" asked Melissa.

"I'm afraid so..." replied Victoria

To be Continued in 'Methuselah' (Part Four)

Storytellers Conclusions

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

This one went pretty much as I expected and had some great RPG moments which always help to make it worth the Storytellers efforts. Not much else to say about this one.

Acknowledgements
“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 Dr Matthews is Mads Mikkelsen, Yukio Hayashi is Jamie Chung, 'Priss' is Sofia Boutella, Kayne Lowe is Jamie Foxx, Marius Walker is Tony Curran, Victoria Anne is Lilith May, Catherine DuBois is Margot Robbie, Dr Melissa Russell is Hayley Atwell, Leanna is Leeanna Vamp and Heather Taylor is Liz Vicious.

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.