(IC 2) San Francisco by Night: A Requiem in Fog

[Ladorak]

Lilith joins Anna between the two Kindred casually and deliberately reloading her rifle, all the while the barrel never strayed far from Alejandro's nose 'Never killed a Prince before, how about you two give a girl a moment to savor her victory before we go back to all the back biting and posturing of business as usual?'

[Bennosuke]

Anna grabs hold of the Acolyte's sword arm, putting herself between Alejandro and Julian. Lillith is there in a moment as well, furthering the separation between the two Kindred. Julian remains still; not mortal still, but frozen like a statue, his eyes not even flitting about with normal mortal saccades. Instead the Dragon just glares at Alejandro, sword still held at his side.

Alejandro keeps his weapon raised, his arm still. Instead, he twists his neck around so he can lock eyes with Anna. Alejandro's lips curl back in the same animal grimace that Prince Gorman had worn only moments before, fangs bared. "Let go of me," he snarls, eyes wide and feral, and Anna can feel The Beast behind those eyes starting to break free of its chains!

[Daishain]

Karl looks around, somewhat confused as to what's just happened. Apparently Beato met his final death, but he had been dominated. Dealing with him without resorting to that seemed unlikely to say the least, that's why he'd tried the grenade after all.

He says, rather stiffly, definitely feeling the effects of tonight's wounds and exertions dragging on him, "I think there has been enough killing tonight gentlemen. Sir Alejandro, if you have a dispute with Sir Julian, I suggest taking it up with the new prince once this has all been settled. For now, we have more important concerns. Cleaning this mess up before the kine get wind of it. The masquerade comes first."

[Thundercracker]

Anna Wu

“Crap,” Anna thought, “what was I thinking, jumping in the middle of this?”

Anna looked right back at Alejandro, who was about to lose control.

A dozen different thoughts crossed her mind in a split second, from agreeing, to disarming him, to shoving her bloody shoulder in his face and distracting the Beast.

She settled for letting go of his arm by putting both hands on his face to keep him facing her.
“Alejandro, control it,” she said, putting as much empathy and concern into her voice as she could.

Spoiler

Show

if he tries to attack her she will celerity interrupt and move away.

[Bennosuke]

Alejandro turns his attention to Karl now. "What about the other Traditions," he hisses, though the venom is starting to recede from the Crone's face. "There was no Blood Hunt called on Beato. The Prince was dead... there was no need for that." Even as he spoke, those around could see The Beast receding back to its cage, the dark light dimming in Alejandro's eyes. Whether they meant it or not, Anna and Karl and Lillith were giving the man time to take control again. He stood there, sword arm still raised with Anna hanging off of it, but was making no attempts to fight her off, or charge forward towards Julian, who remained statue still, simply studying the Acolyte with a strange curiosity.

Then Alejandro turns his attention to Anna, all resistance gone from his muscles. "Let go of me," he commanded harshly, though there was no black magic behind his words.

[Thundercracker]

Anna Wu

"Karl is right, this is a matter to be taken up with the new Prince, and whoever he appoints as Sheriff," Anna said.
She was going to be a Hound, better start acting like it.


Slowly she let go of Alejandro's arm and stepped back, drifting into the crowd of Kindred around them.

[Daishain]

Karl nods as things start to settle a little, but says nothing more.

[Bennosuke]

Anna lets go of Alejandro's arm. There is as split second where the vampire raises his sword, fangs still bared, and a growl escapes his lips as his eyes dart from Julian to Anna, then to the rest of the gathered crowd of vampires.

"Fine," The Crone says, the single word filled with venom.

Julian nods his head with approval; the first movement he has made since executing Beato. "Our job is done, but the night is young. It may be worthwhile scouring this haven, or perhaps it won't." he says with a shrug. Then cautiously Julian adds, "But we must move quickly. We don't know if any of The Prince's allies are on their way here, or if any form of security has been tripped."

Julian looks down at the pile of clothes and bone and ash at his feet and says, "But first, let us dispose of this breach. We should probably gather up any evidence in this building that could break the Masquerade."

************************************************** **********

The pain in Aisling's chest was unbearable. It felt like someone had lit a sun in the spot between her lungs, a fire that was trying to consume her from the inside out.

Aisling was on the stone floor of an ancient. The space was familiar, it was a home of sorts, though not her modern haven. The room was near dark, lit only by the dying embers of a fireplace on the far side of the room. Before Aisling was a table, where Gazren sat, writing furiously. How long had Aisling been asleep?. It was too dark in here, Aisling's predator eyes should have allowed her to see in this low light, but she could barely make out the silhouette of her master. Only by his outline could Aisling appreciate how quickly he was writing, his arm moving back and forth at a near impossible speed. She felt cold. It was cold in this room, but the lack of heat cut Aisling in a way it had not in centuries, she could feel her body shiver, hear her heart pounding in her ears as it aggressively pushed blood to her extremities to keep her warm.

The man, or thing at the table seemed not to notice that Aisling had woken. However, as she came to her senses, Aisling was certain he was whispering something... no, someone was whispering something to Gazren!

[Thundercracker]

Anna nodded and started looking for Miho’s mirror. If there’s a dropped saber on the ground she will pick that up as an improvement over her knife.

If it didn’t immediately look like there were any likely hiding spots for the mirror in the basement, she would start at the top floor and work her way down.

Spoiler

Show

going to spend wp on the searching feel free to roll for Anna

[Daishain]

Karl looks thoughtful, "This many kine bodies, we're going to need bulk transport. Anyone have any suitable contacts in the freight industry?"

[Ladorak]

'I mean, I was just being factious earlier, but we could just burn this place to the ground.' She shrugs 'Make some calls, make sure the fire engine doesn't get here any time soon. They won't know anything is amiss if everyone is ash.'

[Daishain]

Karl is quick to shake his head, "A house fire does not burn hot enough to destroy bone, and there are too many of those around to just be the household staff here. We could use high temperature accelerants to make sure the bones burn as well, but that would leave traces that would lead them to assume arson and probable murder. It may still be a good idea to burn the house down, just to clean up the rest of this mess, but we need to get at least the majority of the bodies out of here first."

[Bennosuke]

Unfortunately, there are no extra swords around. The only two with sabers are Julian and Alejandro, who both eye each other like alpha wolves on a new territory. If Anna remembers correctly, they both came from the upstairs part of the Haven with the weapons.

Instead, Anna slips into the shadows and begins to scour the basement for any evidence of the mirror given to her former Coterie member by Lady Miho. The basement is mostly unfurnished, except for the altar that sits in the middle of the room. This primary adornment appears to be meticulously carved from some sort of light grey stone, smooth and decorated like an old Roman sarcophagus. Carvings depict Jesus Christ as a sun, whose presence burns a throng of cowering vampiric corpses below him. The structure appears ancient, pock marked, faded, and chipped. However, the body strewn out on the altar is fresh, apparently vagrant. The corpse is fresh, and has clearly been ex-sanguinated, though there is barely any trace of recently spilled blood. There are gashes along the man's body at the neck, both wrists, and both ankles, as well as over the right chest.

The tapestries along the wall similarly depict scenes of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, though there seems to be a special detailing of the soldiers escorting him through his torture.

Nearby, as the vampires are talking, the dark skinned female vampire who is still slowly coming to responds to Karl's question. "I don't specifically have any contacts in the freight industry, but I know a Nosferatu who does. Should I call him?"

[Erulasto]

It was hard to get her mind to focus on the now, when she wasn’t able to clearly remember the when or the how. The shivers were a further sign of something being wrong. Was she…mortal?

Tentatively, Aisling brought a fingertip up and gingerly parted her lips, feeling around for any telltale sign of fangs.

And to top off all the strangeness, there was her beloved Gazren. Had he finally come back for her? Had he even…left? She couldn’t seem to wrap her head around the swirling thoughts.

Finally, after watching his furious scrawling for a while, Aisling pushed herself to her bare feet and took a tentative step towards her Sire – and whatever or whomever was dictating and directing his hand.

”Gazren?” the Gangrel spoke after finding her voice. ”What…what is going on?”

Spoiler: OOC

Show

My apologies for the delay. Had some real nasty internet issues. I know you needed a new router Benno. Me and half my neighbors lost all ISP services. Phone, TV and internet. All good now.

And I really like the start of the dream sequence!

[Thundercracker]

Anna checked behind the altar to make sure there was nothing of interest there before slipping out of the room and searching the rest of the mansion, starting at the top floor.

[Bennosuke]

Gazren continues to work. For a moment the dying firelight catches his face, his eyes and hair wild. Aisling can see that it his the large tomb that he is writing in. As Aisling's head slowly clears, she realizes that indeed, there was another presence in the room, and Gazren was speaking to it. The voice was high pitched and fair, though not exactly feminine. It was unclear what the voice was saying, even stranger, as Aisling gazed about the room, she could not locate the source of the voice.

But Gazren was speaking to the presence too, his voice a low threatening growl. It was hard to make out what he was saying, though at one point, Gazren's voice rose angrily to say, "Damn you Elatha, I care not! I owe you nothing!"

At this threat, there was a sudden rush of cold in the room as a harsh wind swept through the shutters and cracks in the wall, and the dying fire nearly gutted.

The discussion slowly dies and Aisling finally speaks up. Gazren's eyes slowly find the girl, strewn about the straw on the ground. "Go back to sleep dear," he says, his voice rough, low and hypnotic, "I apologize if my work disturbed your rest. It is... important, though nothing that should concern you."

************************************************** ********

There was nothing behind the altar.

(OOC: So how long is Anna going to spend searching, a true investigation roll is supposed to be worth an hour of hunting)

[Ladorak]

Spoiler

Show

Lilith will help anna with the investigating
wits+investigate
(3d10)[10][2][3](15)
10again
(3d10)[5][5][10](20)

[Daishain]

Karl looks to the kindred who spoke, "On second thought, hold on for a moment." He thinks for a time, then states, "All right, as I see it, we can play this one of three ways."

"Option one. Everyone in this house mysteriously vanishes. We clean the place top to bottom, eliminate all of the bodies, and do not set a fire. When people eventually come to check, they find an empty mansion with nothing and no one inside. There will be a bunch of missing person cases and people will speculate about what happened for a long time, but if there's no evidence of foul play, the cops won't poke at it for too long. The problem there is that being that thorough about cleaning a crime scene is incredibly hard. I can pretty much guarantee you that we will miss something, no matter how diligent we are, and then it becomes a matter of luck whether or not the investigators find whatever it is we miss. Also, that kind of mass disappearance will fuel conspiracy nuts for decades to come, and with lots of them poking around, chances are at least a few will stumble onto other... interesting aspects of this city's night life."

"Option two, we stage a tragedy. Get rid of the bodies that aren't supposed to be here, along with any items that threaten the masquerade, then make it look like there was an accidental gas explosion, I assume this place has a natural gas tap. Unfortunately this accident resulted in the staff becoming trapped and expiring. This approach would if done well lead to the least questions being asked later down the road. People will talk about it for a time, and then forget. Unfortunately, there are a LOT of ways for this option to go wrong. The cops will be pouring over the place inch by inch, and if they find evidence of foul play or arson, which could be as simple as just one body that doesn't get burned enough to hide the fact that their throat was ripped out, all hell will break loose as they hunt for whoever was responsible and those that covered it up."

"Option three, we don't try to cover up the killings at all. Leave all the bodies right where they are, Remove signs of our presence along with anything that is a threat to the masquerade, and then burn the place to the ground with loads of gasoline to make sure as little as possible survives. Our story in that case is that whoever owns this mansion, which I assume is a cover identity used for Gorman's sake, actually was a serial killer that finally went entirely off the deep end, killed his people, burned down his home, and then disappeared. The cops will be poking around the case for a long time, but it has the twin advantages of being almost entirely true, which means incidental evidence the cops find is very likely to support the tale, and giving the cops a red herring to chase after. Just to be thorough, we could probably have contacts drop some evidence that the killer fled the country and went to Russia or somewhere similarly difficult to pursue."

"It is messy as hell, but I am inclined to lean towards option three. It will undoubtedly cause some fallout, but it is by far the simplest plan to pull off, and simplicity helps our odds a great deal."

"Do any have alternative suggestions to these options or contacts to improve them?"

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Manipulation+persuasion+invictus status (4d10)[2][9][8][3](22)
ten again (4d10)[6][5][6][6](23)

Oh thank the various gods.
If you think invictus status doesn't apply to this mixed crowd, that's -2 dice, but still 1 success.

[Erulasto]

The angry tone that Gazren had for whomever this mysterious presence was caused Aisling to balk, and she wrapped thin arms around her midriff uncomfortably. As the cold wind tore through the room, she felt a shiver run up her spine.

”Ba é an fuar a dhúisigh mé, mo chroí.” Aisling said finally, tentatively stepping to Gazren and resting a small hand upon his shoulder. ”Who…is Elatha?”

Spoiler: Translation

Show

It was the cold that woke me, my heart.

[Bennosuke]

Anna and Lillith escape out of the basement, stepping over trampled corpses to begin searching the house. A quick run through of the building yields no evidence of Lady Miho's mirror. However, searching the upstairs section is not unfruitful. It is clear that further combat has occurred on the second level, with bullet holes and blood splatter decorating the bone white floral wallpaper. While most of the doors are wood, there is a single metal door that appears to have been either kicked open by a vampire with blood fueled superhuman strength, or perhaps blown open by a tactical grenade. The room is filled from floor to ceiling with child's dolls. They are lined up in rows on tables and cabinets, seated against the walls, or piled across the floor. Most all dolls appear to have been damaged in some way by blunt trauma or by fire, though there is evidence of stray gunfire in the room. Closer inspection reveals most of the dolls depict children, mostly boys.

A quick search of the room however also reveals a single copy of the Book of Longinus, ancient in its peeling leather binding, and yellow pages. The book is found in a small "secret compartment" in one of the drawers.

Search of the other upstairs rooms are mostly unremarkable; unused bedrooms, some marred by the recent combat, and filled with spent defeated corpses. Otherwise, there is still the strange and lingering presence of the now ashed Lord, as if his eyes were still following Anna and Lillith from room to room.

************************************************** ***************'

The gathered Kindred listen as Karl gives his reasoning and details the options for covering up the room.

Julian is first to respond. Straight to the point, he says, "Option two makes the most sense. The other two options will probably lead to further investigations by the Kine. At least with an arson, some of the evidence we can't find will be burned up, and I'm sure the Tower will be more than happy to provide assistance in finding a way to fabricate a reasonable cover up story."

The Dragon is practically cut off by Alejandro, who snarls, "That is exactly why we can't burn this place down. Who knows what sort of evidence is hidden in this mansion, what sort of secrets? If we leave the building intact, at least we will have the opportunity to search it later!"

To Karl's surprise, the two relatively Elder vampires turn to The Shadow as if asking him to make the final decision.

************************************************** ***************

As Aisling approaches the man, the firelight seems to gut further, the room becoming darker, colder, more bereft of life. Gazren does not look up immediately from his work, seemingly too absorbed in his work to pay attention to Aisling as she approaches.

He smiles at her response though, and finally looks up at the mortal when she poses her question. Still smiling, Gazren closes his book shut, waving his a hand in the air and says, "There is much you still have to learn Aisling. There are weird and wild things that go bump in the night... beyond myself. There is a reason mothers leave out a bowl of milk for the pixies, and spit between their fingers to ward off the evil eye. But these matters should not concern you. The truths I offer you are far more important... the truths that shall be fully revealed to you as you become... more ready." Gazren says all this affecting an air of casualty, though Aisling catches him glancing furtively at shadows in the room, looking for what, she cannot tell.

[Daishain]

Karl shifts uncomfortably, they can't mean... If the final decision is his, so is the blame for when things go wrong... Wait, most of the dead kine here would be ghouls... that meant...

"Alejandro has a point, there could be anything hidden in these walls that we won't find with a quick search, including more bodies, which could easily spoil option two by default. I am very doubtful that we could ever get this place cleaned of all evidence enough for option one, but we can play for time. Most of the people here would have been ghouls, not likely to have many social contacts among those outside of the masquerade. Their disappearance will be noticed eventually, but we will have time before someone comes looking. Time that we can exploit."

"How about this, we delay the final decision by 24 hours. Chances are it will take longer than that for cops to come poking around, but I don't think we should make that assumption. In between now and then we scour the place, hunt down every hidden nook and cranny, find every nasty little secret the prince stowed away. Have a team of trusted ghouls take over during daylight hours. That will also give us time to consult with the tower and our contacts in order to make sure this goes right."

Karl taps his head, "I have a good start on finding the hidden places, I've been reviewing tapes from cameras secreted around this place lately. I've spotted several hidden doors being used and should be able to point them out. If not exactly how to open the things."

"Just one catch, the neighbors cannot be allowed to see a flurry of activity here. Whoever comes and goes needs to use appropriate stealth."

[Thundercracker]

Anna Wu

”The Spear had aligned with Gorman,” Anna thought, “this book might go a ways to bringing them over to d'agnostino, or at least some of them.”

“Or we could present it ourselves,” Anna thought.

“Lilith, once things settle down a bit I think maybe we could present this as a gift to whoever ends up as the Spear primogen, what do you think?” she asked.

She looked around for a bag to stash the book in.

[Erulasto]

Aisling, still bearing the blush of life and of dawning womanhood, leaned down and pressed a kiss to Gazren's brow.

"Mo mhathair told me stories at bed time about the Tuatha when I was little." she said, eyes wide with wonder. "You will show me them one day? And...I am ready! When you believe it is time, I will join you with all my heart."

Her gaze upon Gazren was nothing more than pure, unadulterated adoration. Biting her lip thoughtfully, she carefully avoided making mention of his odd distractions.

[Ladorak]

Lilith grinned 'I was about to suggest the same thing. No need to distract everyone downstairs with this. You'll have to stash it though.' She gestured down to her torn form-fitting dress 'I didn't exactly come dressed for the occasion.'

[Bennosuke]

Julian's face remains a placid mask, and he shrugs at Karl's response, but Alejandro's grin is filled with triumph and pride. "Very good," The Crone says, nodding his head approvingly, "lead the way then my friend."

The dark skinned vampire who had previously been under the Prince's control speaks up after chancing an anxious glance at her phone. "We should probably hurry up with whatever we want to do tonight then. We only have a few more hours before dawn," she says, looking to Karl and Alejandro like a dog afraid its master may beat it. She quickly adds, "Let me know and I can call my friend right now though."

************************************************** *************

Gazren listens to his prodigy, a mask-like stillness to his face. "One day, when you are ready," Gazren replies, his mouth the only part of his entire body moving as he speaks, "but that will be many many nights from now." He stops, as if this were the end of the conversation, though he remains still like a statue, dark eyes unblinking, before he says, "But I warn you, the Weird are terrible and strange creatures. They are not to be summoned or studied lightly. Many of my... friends are terrified of them, and would do anything to avoid contact."

[Daishain]

Karl would say that he felt sick to his stomach right now, but that particular organ hadn't given him even phantom sensation in decades. Too late to back off now though, this has to be done. Looking to the one who spoke, "No, not yet, but we do need people to call in, inform our leadership that the hunt has been completed, and that the mess left by Gorman will take considerable effort to conceal from the kine. Ask if any have a professional cleaner crew available that can be trusted with something like this and are free to lend a hand."

"I want some to stay here, start bagging every shell, every ejected magazine, and every bullet, get pliers and pull the things out of the walls. We'll patch up the holes later. Be thorough, none of our scenarios allow for a gunfight down here, so there cannot be evidence of one"

"One or two I would have come with me to check the hidden passages, I doubt there is much room for a group in there. The rest start sweeping the floors. Disturb as little as possible, especially the bodies, but look for anything that could threaten the masquerade and gather it if it is portable. If it is big, like a painting or statue, make a note of it and move on. We'll have to find something suitable to go in the place of anything like that, we don't want this house to look like it has been robbed. In regards to bullets and shells that we did not bring into this place, leave them be for now, whether or not we mess with them depends on what decision ends up being made."

"That should keep everyone occupied for a while. If in doubt, don't touch it, just make a note of it for review. And do be careful, Gorman has clearly been going mad for a long time, there's no telling what further surprises lurk in these walls. Any questions?"

If people accept these instructions, Karl will busy himself with pointing out the secret passages he remembers from this place and attempting to find a means to open them.

[Erulasto]

Aisling’s brow furrowed in thought as she listened to her soon-to-be-Sire’s explanation of the Weird Ones. She thought she had some inkling of how potent – dangerous – Gazren was, and if his friends were scared of them than what would that mean in the grand scheme of the world? Could they truly be so terrible?

”As you say, mo chroi.” Aisling said finally, as she thoughtlessly plucked a few pieces of straw from the worn dress that covered her small frame. ”I bow to your wisdom. But I am hungry to learn all you have to teach.” Her glacial eyes sparked with stubborn determination.

[Bennosuke]

Alejandro nods approvingly, and says, "Very well. Karl, I shall come with you to explore some of these secret passages you speak of."

"Then I shall come as well," says Julian. The others in the room remain still, silent, simply observing the continued stand off between the two senior vampires. There are a few tense moments, before the group begins to set themselves to the task of cleaning up the basement.

(OOC: Daishain, please give me a Wits + Investigation roll to find these secret passages, and I assume you want to take advantage of the Informed condition?)

************************************************** ***************

"Very good," Gazren says, rising from his seat, "if you are hungry, than I shall fix you something." He deftly picks up his large leather bound book, and walks to a nearby counter. This part of the room is dark, and Aisling cannot see her master's actions, but soon he returns to her with a goblet filled with a thick dark red liquid. Gazren has offered this to Aisling before, calling it 'God's Dark Wine', and he places the goblet before Aisling in offering. "Drink up my dear," he says grinning.

[Daishain]

Karl merely nods, though he is not exactly thrilled with working with a pair that clearly wish to come to blows. He turns and heads towards the nearest area he recalls seeing a passage.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Yes, I'll resolve the condition. If I remember right thanks to that if I fail this its still considered a success, if I pass, its considered an exceptional success.
wits+investigations (6d10)[3][8][9][9][7][3](39)
ten again (5d10)[9][10][7][5][6](37)

[Bennosuke]

(OOC: that is correct. Karl resolves the condition and gains a beat, which I have updated in your character box, and the roll is deemed an exceptional success)

Karl leads the two elder vampires out of this basement altar room, and back down the hallway towards the laundry room. Karl's mind felt fevered as it ran through video footage that he had digested, and struggled to block out the images of the night's events.

He wasn't certain, till he found the hatch located under the mat at the base of the dryer. It was a trap door of sorts, made to look like the ceramic tiling of the wash room. It led to a very narrow, very steep wooden stairway.

A short trip down brought the three into a small round room made of stone, similar to the altar room above. The room is practically filled with a squat wooden table, ancient and frayed. If it were in a living room, it would probably be thought of as a coffee table, so low to the ground this table is.

Placed on the table are three objects. The first is a perfectly round dark red gem, about the size of a fist, and held in a cream colored marble claw. Though the only light in this room trickles in from the unlit laundry room above, the jewel seems to glow and light up the room. Staring at the gem makes Karl's eyes hurt, and fills the vampire's ears with a high pitched piercing hum that could almost be laughter.

The second object is parcel of sorts, a package of old butcher's paper, wrapped up in twine that has practically turned yellow. The package looks stained and greasy, but otherwise is not nearly as offensive as the first.

The last object on the table is a small potted plant, like a small wilted rose bush. The pot contains a tangle of vines turning brown. They seem to curl around the container, barbed and wreathed in cracking waxen leaves. Blooming from the thicket are a number of the smallest, most red roses that Karl has ever seen, despite the fact that their translucent petals appear frail and fragile like the gossamer wings of a butterfly. The leaves and flowers of the plant seem to shudder ever so slightly, as if caught in a sudden breeze.

Alejandro seems suddenly stricken by the presence of the plant, and even exclaims, "NO! It cannot be!" His eyes going wild with fury, darting from Julian to Karl with sudden uncontrolled suspicion.