The session also exposed a major issue with such stories: there are lots of clues and not all of my players are equally suited to putting them together. Or remembering them.
What do you think? Does this game need a scorecard or a chart?
Our cast consists of:
- Alex Carlyle (Ventrue Invictus): a local doctor who quit his practice after gaining his condition. He recently “earned” dominion over Urbana much to the displeasure of Big Eddie, a local rival.
- Sybil Brannon (Gangrel Carthian): a former nature guide turned vampiric vigilante, she’s claimed the parks as her turf.
- 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 the cult as they comb folklore and myths for clues to abilities beyond the limits of current vampires. Like his disciples he lurks around the University of Illinois. This is now Invictus territory.
Bargaining Chips
The title of this session was decided before play so we did not quite get to everything I had planned. Perhaps if my politically inclined PCs had been looking at things differently (i.e. in terms of building alliances) things might have turned out differently.We resume play as the PCs look for Rudolph, converse with the Strix ‘Jane’ and piece together who or rather what the Strixes’ parent is.
Alex excuses himself from the drawing-room of Rudolph’s house to text his sire. “Where are you?”
Rudolph’s response is terse: “On business for the Old Man.”
While Alex calls Tara to confirm his sire’s story, Ethan pokes around the house for clues to Rudolph’s past. Jane drifts behind him poking at models and fingering books. Sybil keeps a careful eye on the Strix or at least the deceased old woman she inhabits.
Ethan rolls Wits + Investigation and succeeds.
From the photos and heirlooms, Ethan deduces that Rudolph lived in New York City for some time. He guesses the elderly man was Embraced there, perhaps in the 1910s. In his pictures he seems ageless. He probably was the Old Man’s ghoul, he tells the others.
Sybil quietly texts Ethan and Alex not to give out information with the Strix in the room.
Reminded of their visitor, the cult leader turns to Jane. He attempts to convince her to tell them more about the jewel the Twins want so badly. However she is reluctant to reveal more. Ethan turns talk to the powers of the Strix, how they seem to be made of smoke, able to slip through cracks and small spaces.
Ethan failed his Manipulation + Persuasion roll.
Alex returns and listens in. He notes the name on old woman’s wrist tag: Mildred Kerry. Curious he calls the local hospital and confirms she is missing. The police are looking for her, she’s deathly ill and hasn’t visitors all day.
As Ethan begins to increase the pressure, Jane says she just wants to be friends with them. Ethan points out that she is withholding information from her ‘friends’. Also she was present when Rudolph was hacked up. Agitated, she claims she didn’t want to do it but the others forced her to help. Her siblings share a special bond and they must work together. The Inverted Lord wanted Rudolph out of the way since it hates competition from other monsters.
Ethan rolls Manipulation + Intimidation -2 to pressure Jane. He fails but uses his Informed Condition to succeed. He earns a Beat.
Feeling hemmed in, she babbles about her other siblings and their quests. The Witch wants to find their mother. The Twins want to recover their mother’s heart’s blood. Feeling used, she glances at Ethan and Sybil before opening a window. She lifts her head and escapes out into the night. Mildred’s corpse collapses in Rudolph’s drawing room.
The coterie next heads to University to search for the jewel. Returning to Martock’s office, they search through his records and turn up hints that he might have hidden it in the library.
Ethan succeeds on an Intelligence + Academics roll.
At the library, they question Ms. Spencer, one of the evening librarians. They ask where Martock has been frequenting recently. One odd place she recalls seeing him was in the dissertation stacks a month ago. They spend a few hours searching there but the sheer volume of books defeats them. While several Martocks have graduated from the school, none are the professor.
Ethan and Alex roll Intelligence + Composure but net 1 success between them.
They return to the office. Alex hunts for secret compartments while Ethan pores over Martock’s notes for any clues. In a vent Alex uncovers older correspondence. Interestingly, in these letters Martock uses the name John Dassy. Ethan finds a younger and still mortal Dassy in a 1927 yearbook. Dassy was Martock’s name before his Embrace. He also uncovers more recent letters, letters from Chicago in the past decade. Pocketing the papers, the two men return to the library.
Alex rolls Wits + Investigate and succeeds while Ethan gets 3 successes on an Intelligence + Academics roll.
I’m excising a bit here where Ethan spends a few hours uselessly searching the historical books section and the bit where we knock some heads together to realize Dassy is the name to search for.
In the dissertation stacks next to Da Silva's 2012 dissertation on canine decomposition they discover a dusty tome by John Dassy, class of 1928. Within the battered book is a dark red jewel the size of a grape.
Ethan rolls it in his hand, realizing it is actually crystallized blood.
Ethan succeeds on an Intelligence + Science roll.
Elsewhere Sybil spends her time constructing some defenses against the Strix: a bell on a red ribbon, a vial containing salt, and a few molotov cocktails. As dawn approaches she finds a mugger to feed from before returning to her apartment.
Sybil rolls Dexterity + Stealth to feed. She takes 3 Vitae.
Alex also hunts, finding a cab driver he can lull into a false sense of security. Ethan merely visits his cult and takes his tithe. Then he slips into his alter/sarcophagus.
Alex rolls Manipulation + Socialize and takes 2 Vitae. Ethan uses his Herd Merit to get lots of Vitae.
Everyone spends 1 Vitae to rise the next night.
The next night, Alex contacts his old employee Alan Brannon. The younger man is happy to hear from him. The doctor asks him to run a blood sample for him while gently dodging questions about what he has been up to. For the most part Alan seems satisfied that his old boss hasn’t slipped into depression or suffered some other calamity. He takes the shaving from the jewel back to the Alex’s old practice.
Alex resolves his Tempted Condition by interacting with his Touchstone.
As Sybil makes her rounds at the park, she catches the scent of blood in the air. Searching, she soon finds a man, ripped open and splayed like a warning. The corpse belongs to one of her regulars and appears gnawed on by human teeth. Fresh blood leads away from the kill site.
Sybil rolls Intelligence + Medicine to learn some details and then Wits + Survival to track the blood.
Carefully she follows the trail through the streets and through empty lots to a cemetery. She quickly circles the location. Assured that her quarry must lay within, she texts Ethan and Alex to join her.
She also beats the Strix’s Finesse + Resistance roll with her Dexterity + Stealth. So it has no chance to prepare.
Fifteen minutes later the men roll up. Together they advance into the graveyard.
Sybil’s sharp eyes pick out a figure creeping between headstones to their left. Ethan scrutinizes the walking corpse. He detects a bestial presence like that within every vampire.
Sybil beats the Strix’s (the Beast) Dexterity + Stealth roll with her Wits + Composure + 2 from her Hyperaware Condition. She also earns Beat by resolving the Condition.
Ethan rolls Wits + Empathy + Auspex to gauge its nature.
The creature rises and stalks towards them. Peeling back its lips in a horrid grin, it mocks how they cling to humanity and their weakness. Sybil keeps low but defiant while Alex shrinks back. Ethan draws its attention by arguing that he has leashed his Beast. They soon realize from this Beast’s banter that it possessed David and blames them for his death.
The Beast lashes out with its Predatory Aura, using the Monstrous Beast version. Ethan counters with a Competitive Beast. It gets 5 successes to Ethan’s surprisingly high result of 3 (rolling Intelligence + Blood Potency). Ethan gains the Bestial Condition for the next 4 days.
As the shadows grow around them, the coterie realize the time for talk has ended. Sybil flicks open a lighter and ignites a Molotov cocktail. Alex puts some distance between himself and the others.
The Beast invokes a power (actually it merges its Lair and the cemetery). It and its siblings are a sort of Strix/Beast mix.
We roll Initiative. Though the PCs roll well the order is: Beast, Ethan, Sybil, Alex.
Everyone finds themselves cloaked in illusion, each appearing like the rotten blood stained corpse the Beast inhabits. Ethan sees through the illusion however and points out the real version. As he does, the tinkling of bells fills his mind.
Ethan rolls Wits + Empathy + Auspex and gets an exceptional success. After some talk (and another turn) I let him know it has a weakness against bells.
Sybil hurls the flask but it clips a stone cross and splashes across the ground. Alex pulls his gun as the Beast rushes around the flame toward Sybil.
Sybil fails on her Dexterity + Athletics + 3 for Willpower (9 dice). That would have been a game changer.
As the pair scuffle, Alex lines up a shot and puts a round through its chest. Elsewhere Ethan scrambles for a weapon only to be snagged by some skeletal hands. He keeps himself from freaking out as he pulls away.
The Beast swings at Sybil and visa versa. Both have Defenses of 5 and Strength + Brawl of 5. So lots of chance dice and no successes. Alex spends Willpower on his Dexterity + Firearms roll and gets 3 successes. Thus he deals 4 Bashing to the corpse. Ethan avoids Frenzy thanks to some spent Willpower on his Resolve + Composure roll (-2 for Bestial).
Deciding to focus on a ‘real’ threat, the Beast turns on Alex. As they grapple, Alex gives it an unexpected push and both of them tumble into the burning grass. Sybil pulls out another Molotov cocktail while Ethan has a new idea. He scrambles for his phone as the Ventrue occupies the burning corpse.
The Beast succeeds on its Strength + Brawl - Alex’s Defense. But in the subsequent grapple roll, Alex gets 3 successes on his Strength + Brawl roll to the Beast’s 1. He choses to move both of them. As they hit the fire, Alex spends 1 Vitae to activate Resilience. He takes 1 Aggravated damage while the Beast takes 2.
Ethan fails his Wits + Science so his action will take another turn.
Pained and scared, the Beast pushes both itself and Alex out of flames. Sybil decides to drop her incendiary and instead grows claws. Suddenly Ethan’s phone begins playing “Hell’s Bells”. The Strix’s distraction only lasts for a moment. It seems that only the real thing will harm it. The scholar looks around and heads in the direction of where the church was.
The Strix wins the next brawl contest despite now having a -1 penalty due to wound penalties. Sybil spends a Vitae to activate Protean 2.
Realizing its weakness, Sybil pulls out the bell hanging around her neck. The Beast and Alex pulls apart while Ethan pushes past the edge of the cemetery. But instead of a church he finds himself in a dark hedge maze.
Both Alex and the Beast want to escape the grapple so I just let it work. Sybil rings the bell and rolls 4 dice (the Strix’s Shadow Potency). Unfortunately there are no successes.
Ethan enters another Chamber of the Owls' Lair.
The Beast lunges at Sybil, reaching for the bell. Instead the ringing brings blood from its ears as the Gangrel cracks one of its arms. Alex fires at the melee but misses both combatants.
The Beast is at 2 aggravated and 4 bashing damage. So even spending Willpower doesn’t negate the wound and size penalties to grab the bell.
Sybil on the other hand spends Willpower and gets 2 successes on her attack. The 4 dice for the bell also get a success. The Beast takes 3 bashing.
Alex fails on his Dexterity + Firearms roll.
Elsewhere Ethan backtracks with difficulty, emerging back in the cemetery.
Luckily Ethan succeeds on his Intelligence + Composure - 2 roll. Otherwise he might be trapped in the Lair.
Broken and bloody, the corpse raises its head as the Beast emerges as a bird of smoke and ash. The bell rings loudly causing it to shiver in pain. As Ethan arms himself with a broken bottle, the Strix flees.
The final ring of Bell gets 3 successes or half the Strix’s health.
The shadows retreat. The church fades back into view. Safe the coterie retreat back to their territory.
The next night, Alan gives Alex his report. He found the blood sample disturbing, mixing hundreds of different sources from over a century ago. Alex seems unconcerned and passes it off as part of an archaeological dig he is consulting on.
Ethan meanwhile finishes reviewing Martock’s correspondence. The name of his contact in Chicago is Kyril. Ethan now has his P.O. Box.
Experience time. 1 base Beat plus 2 roleplaying Beats. They all gained a Beat from resolving a Condition. Sybil also has her territory confirmed and protected people in the park from the Beast, getting two Beats for Aspirations. Alex and Ethan each also completed an Aspiration, though I lost the specifics from my notes. I think Ethan wanted to find the jewel.
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