Our cast consists of:
- Alex Carlyle (Ventrue Invictus): a local doctor who quit his practice after gaining his condition. He has money but not much influence. He’s also haunted by a former friend, David, a vampire whose humanity melted away before his eyes.
- Sybil Brannon (Gangrel Carthian): a former nature guide turned vampiric vigilante, she’s claimed the parks as her turf and is trying to determine who is doing blood sorcery using the entrails of the local homeless.
- Ethan Redhawke (Mekhet Ordo Dracul): a member of the inner circle of the Heart of Akamon, an Ordo Dracul led cult of mortals who serve as a source of blood and researchers. He leads them as they comb folklore and myths for clues to abilities beyond the limits of current vampires. Like his disciples he lurks at the University of Illinois.
Red Words
First we recap the last session. Alex found a maimed cat and clues to his lost friend and ‘sibling’ Dave. In his search he encountered a pair of strange Kindred: Jim and Jane who seemed to want to help him. Jane turned out to be something other than a vampire: a strange being of smoke inhabiting a corpse. Jim and Jane may be the same creature.Sybil meanwhile hunted down the source of a dangerous new drug on the street. With Alex’s help she traced it to Thomas Black, an ambitious if lowly member of the Invictus. She also heard rumors that Dave may be involved with the blood sorcerers that killed a homeless person on her turf not so long ago.
And then they discovered Rudolph, Alex’s sire and the most powerful vampire in town, hacked into torpor in a locked room. Clues point to Jane and her siblings being involved. Creepily it looks like Rudolph sawed his own limbs off.
As night comes to a close, Alex and Sybil load Rudolph’s lightened form into the truck. The doctor drops Sybil along the way back to his place. Putting his sire in a safe place, he rests for the day.
The next night, Ethan awakes within his sarcophagus. The smell of old blood greets him, drifting down from the collecting receptacle cunningly embedded in the altar above him. He slides the top panel aside and arises within a dimly lit chamber graced by elegant sandstone pillars.
Ethan begins somewhat hungry with 5 vitae.
As he straightens his clothing, he glasses at his cell phone. A text message from Portor catches his eye. His ‘sibling’s’ message is quick and cryptic.
i'm sorry. they found me. gotto run
Concerned Ethan hurries to talk to his sire. He finds Professor Martock in his office, surrounded by shelves of books at every wall and spilling into the center of the tight chamber. He relays the text to the dusty scholar. Martock looks momentarily concerned and instructs Ethan to talk to a member of the Invictus: Rudolph Reichardt. He jots down the address for his childe and then returns to his studies.
As Ethan searches for a disciple to drive him there, he encounters a young woman named Stephanie. The nervous looking cultist hesitantly tells him about the disappearance of a ritual knife needed for tomorrow’s ceremony. It seems the disciple entrusted with this task, Harry Wyman, is also missing.
I initially named him Ethan...somehow I forgot that we already had a PC by that name running the cult!
Ethan calls the cult together for an emergency meeting. He informs them of the disappearance of one of their own and asks them for what information they know. Despite the many murmurs, few new details emerge. A few people saw him with an unfamiliar homeless man. Stephanie saw him last, roughly a day ago.
I have him roll Presence + Persuasion to see how well he sparks memories but he fails.
Hearing this, Ethan turns his intense gaze at the young woman, entrancing her before the others and commanding her to take him to where she last saw him. The others draw back at this display of power, looking on as the pair leave.
He Dominates Stephanie and uses that to cement his position as cult leader. I let him roll Presence + Intimidate + Dominate and he succeeds.
Across town, Alex wakes within his basement safe room. He rises, checking that his dismembered sire remains secure, and heads upstairs. The cat meows as he reaches the ground floor, rubbing itself eagerly against his legs. He checks the mail, his answering machine and finally the grounds.
After spending 1 Vitae to rise, he is down to 5 Vitae.
A folded piece of paper sits by his front door. Inside is a simple note from David. He asks Alex to meet him at the Exile at the old railway station this evening.
A quick internet search reveals the Exile is a record shop in the declining strip mall that now resides in the station house. The doctor drives over, arriving a half hour before they close for the evening.
He spots a very ashen and hungry looking Dave poring over the records, or trying to seem so. His old friend looks up and smiles as Alex approaches. He talks avidly of his recent experiences to the doctor who cannot help but notice something is terribly wrong with the youthful vampire.
Alex rolls Wits + Empathy and gets an astounding 7 successes.
As Dave discusses his new friends of smoke and darkness and the strange powers they have taught him, Alex clinically notes the signs of ravaged humanity and possible schizophrenia. He discards that later diagnosis when Dave cocks his head, as if to hear some invisible voice, and his eyes momentarily flash yellow.
Alex asks why he has been avoiding him but Dave claims that the earlier sighting was merely someone playing a trick on the doctor. He admits to working with the Witch, observing it perform blood sorcery.
Dave spies a young woman looking at a record and decides to demonstrate a power Rudolph never even hinted to them. He approaches her, catching her eye. As he uses the familiar power of Dominate, he leans in close and breathes in. A red glowing energy rises from her mouth into his, as if he was sucking the life from her.
Alex interrupts him before he harms her further. Dave explains this is but one of the powers he has learned. Yesterday, he walked in the sunlight for hours without harm. Bewildered, Alex agrees to meet up with Dave again later in the week.
Elsewhere Sybil rises and heads to the cemetery where she heard that the Witch had been. Though she scours the graves for hours, she only picks up traces of blood and death.
Sybil is down to 8 Vitae and after a Wits + Investigation failure is no closer to the witch. I probably should have given her a real clue here, even though in the end it worked out well.
Nearby Ethan and Stephanie learn that Harry was seen near the cemetery last night. They give the helpful homeless man five dollars and pamphlet discussing the creed of Akamon.
Ethan rolls Presence + Persuasion to get useful information and succeeds.
Sybil spies the pair as they drive up. As she crouches behind some tombstones, Ethan and Stephanie notice her. Ethan instructs the mortal to remain in the car while he talks to the other vampire.
Sybil fails a Dexterity + Stealth roll against Ethan’s Wits + Composure + Blood Potency (due to his Acute Senses). Stephanie gets lucky on her roll and also beats the vampire.
Warily Sybil approaches. Ethan introduces himself as the Heart of Akamon. They talk past each other as Sybil suspects Ethan of human sacrifice and Ethan misunderstands it as an attack on his religion. Sybil comes to the conclusion that he is confused before the situation escalates. The pair realize they are hunting a common problem: someone conducting blood rituals in the park.
Ethan rolls Wits + Investigate to find some clues.
Ethan sniffs around and with his heightened senses detects Harry’s scent tinged with blood and death.
Just then Alex phones Sybil. He is looking to awaken Rudolph and would like some help. He also mentions his run in with Dave. Sybil says she is with the Heart of Akamon and that he might also be interested. She convinces the cult leader to drive her to the doctor’s house.
A few minutes later the three vampire’s make introductions. This time Ethan gives his actual name. With his mortal disciple dismissed, the trio descend into the basement to resuscitate Rudolph. Alex drips blood into his sire’s shriveled throat.
They wait.
Nothing happens.
As Alex’s puzzles over the failure, Ethan posits that only a vampire more potent blood could awaken the Ventrue. To his knowledge, only his sire or Rudolph’s sire might possess the necessary requirements. Professor Martock at least would know who to turn to.
Ethan rolls Intelligence + Occult to know these details.
Alex comments that even though Rudolph must be the “Old Man’s” eldest childe, the leader of the Invictus has designated another as his heir. There is bad blood between Rudolph and his sire, some secret he never shared with Alex.
Alex rolls Intelligence + Politics + Invictus Status to know about the political situation.
With one option removed, the Kindred head for university, stuffing Rudolph into a duffel bag in the trunk.
Along the way, a rush of fear rushes through Ethan as he feels a consuming darkness surround his sire. Then suddenly it feels as if Martock has vanished from the face of the earth.
Ethan rolls Wits + Blood Potency + 3 for blood sympathy and succeeds.
The Mekhet relates the premonition to the others. As they arrive at Martock’s office, they find it locked. Ethan picks lock, revealing a room covered in a mess of books and papers. Drops of Vitae decorate several surfaces but not enough to indicate significant harm to the elder vampire.
The PCs roll Intelligence + Investigation.
They search the room but everything has been locked from the inside. Despite signs of a struggle, the culprits and victim simply vanished.
Nervous and wary of something hunting them, Alex decides to take Rudolph to the Old Man despite the consequences. He calls Tara King, the covenant’s underboss and heir to the Old Man. She agrees to see them at the group’s headquarters in Bloomington.
The three of them then drive out of town with a torpored vampire still in the trunk. The lights of town recede and they begin to blaze along the highway towards Bloomington. Along the roadside, they spy a black bird sitting upon the road marker. Its eyes flash yellow in the headlights.
A mile later they see it again, perched atop the next marker.
And again.
Secretly I roll some dice as the creature curses them.
The vampires begin to discuss the growing strangeness. Five miles out, a bursting tire cuts off the group’s conversation. Alex struggles to control the car. He pulls the vehicle over as sparks fly from the back wheel.
He makes his Wits + Driving roll to maintain control.
The vampires get out and Alex retrieves the spare. But even as he picks it up, he can tell it is flat. They debate calling Triple A for help but in the end resort to calling Ethan’s cult. A disciple named Thomas agrees to come pick them up.
I decide then that Thomas is a little high this evening.
While the others wait Sybil walks through the darkness to the nearest mile marker. As she approaches a bird made of smoke and shadows drifts silently down and lands on top of it. She addresses it and it responds in an almost telepathic voice. She asks about its goals and its ‘siblings’, especially the one that called herself Jane. It claims to be personally uninterested in their affairs and is waiting for something. It does however find Jane’s actions amusing and confirms that the Twins seek some object from the vampires in the area. As she leaves, it warns her that if she really wants to save “them”, she should keep her ears open. Then it vanishes before she can clarify who “they” are.
Thomas arrives in an ancient station wagon. They load the duffel bag into it and head for Bloomington. The next half hour passes uneventfully as the beat up car devours the miles.
As the glow of Bloomington rises in the distance, they spot a pair of teenagers burst out of the brush lining the road. The young man runs out into the road trying to flag them down. After a moment’s hesitation Ethan instructs Thomas to stop. The youth pulls his companion, a badly bleeding girl, into the car.
At this point everyone rolls to resist Frenzy. Everyone succeeds the Resolve + Composure roll but gain the Tempted condition, inflicting a -1 penalty roll on the next Frenzy roll.
The terrified couple tell them a tale of being hunted in the cornfields nearby by a beast that stands like a man. They claim its eyes blazed red and one ear was a shredded mess. The last detail reminds Sybil of her final days of a mortal when a similar creature wiped out the hiking expedition she led.
Sybil watches the woman as Alex patches her up, nervously noting the claw and bite marks.
Alex rolls Dexterity + Medicine to stop the bleeding. Sybil isn’t sure if lycanthropy is contagious. I’m not sure if it is in my game yet.
Thomas drives them to the local hospital. After some paperwork, they leave the pair in the care of the ER but not before Sybil learns the woman’s name: Suzy Griffin.
A cold smile crosses Tara’s face as Alex pulls a weighty duffel bag from the back of the car. Her bemusement falters only slightly as the vampires tell their story. She invites them inside, leading them past the armed men at the door and into a parlor. Tara tells them to stay there and then enters an inner chamber. Minutes later she invites them inside.
Alex rolls Wits + Empathy to gauge the Old Man’s reactions. He seems amused by Rudolph’s position, has heard of the birds somehow, and clearly intends to make a move on the University.
The Old Man says that blood sorcerers must be responsible. Or at least that they know something. He suggests they go check a nearby coven, one that they can reach before dawn. He explains with a grin that he will talk to Rudolph.
They meekly do as he requests and drive out back into the cornfields, leaving the main road for dirt tracks until their headlights become the only source of illumination.
Everyone makes a Wits + Composure roll successfully.
As they grind along, a deep growl causes them to glance to the right. Glowing red eyes swell in size as a powerful hairy beast charges the car. Thomas hits the gas, somehow avoiding the wolf-like creature.
I roll 4 successes on his 3 dice pool. Lucky them. He does much less well on the following roll.
The werewolf skids to stop and then chases after them. With one mighty leap it grabs holds of the back of the car, nearly lifting it off the ground.
The characters roll initiative. The order is Sybil, Ethan, the werewolf, Alex and Thomas.
Sybil crawls over the pile of junk in the back and violently opens the back window into its lower jaw. As hot blood splatters on the glass from its wounded tongue, Ethan pulls a baseball bat from the mess in the station wagon.
Sybil makes a Strength + Brawl roll minus the monster’s Defense (only 4). She succeeds with 1 success and adds 1 Lethal for the window, minorly wounding the beast. I roll a chance die to find a plausible weapon with a normal failure yielding a decent blunt object.
Angered the hulking creature tears off the back door. The back wheels make contact with the ground and Thomas drives away. Alex stares back attempting to meet the beast’s red eyes and force his will upon it. But the creature shakes off his influence.
Alex rolls Intelligence + Expression + Dominate but the creature beats his 2 successes with 4 on its Resolve + Supernatural Tolerance.
As the werewolf readies for a third charge, Sybil prepares herself to dodge its strike. Ethan focuses his gaze and gently commands it to run away from here. Surprised, it stops and bounds off into the brush.
Sybil Dodges and Ethan succeeds where Alex failed.
As they catch their breath, Thomas spots a series of flaming stakes in a nearby field, surrounding an old farm house. Ethan tells him to take them there. As the car slides to a halt, three vampires emerge from the structure: a filthy dark-skinned woman, a man with jutting teeth and yellow skin and robed woman with pale skin and red eyes. This final figure offers them sanctuary from the werewolves. She explains the creatures have become maddened in recent months. The price for safety is a tithe of blood. Each agrees to donate some of their vitae. The yellow man collects it in a clay receptacle.
The price paid, the woman then asks why they came. After they sputter their story, she reveals that she has heard of these birds of smoke and shadow but only by rumor. They never before ventured into this region, perhaps because they feared something, something now gone. As she says this she stares into the ashes. She alludes to Chicago in her musings and how once she held power there. She tells them to stay the day before venturing out again.
Now people are fairly hungry and after rising most will be at 3 Vitae. Should be an interesting session next time.
No comments:
Post a Comment