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

[Daishain]

"Tapping into the feeds is a possibility, but I don't know how. I suspect we'll need help for that, and this is one matter I'd rather none others know about."

"Look, there, that window, I bet our Gangrel friend can get in there easily if I open it, now where did she fly off to?..."

If Karl can spot Aisling, he tries to quietly get her attention.

[Bennosuke]

Aisling has flown off and is unfortunately no where in sight.

(OOC: She's flown down to the farthest cabin and is on the far side of that cabin)

[Daishain]

Karl looks about, but is unable to see Aisling, "Hmm, might as well work to get this open." Sidling up to the window, he attempts to jimmy it open.

Spoiler: OOC

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Dex+larceny (3d10)[10][3][3](16)
ten again (3d10)[10][1][10](21)

[Erulasto]

With her own vantage point showing nothing other than the Sheriff and his cronies – and no easy point of entry – Aisling took to the sky once more, wings flapping furiously to build elevation before she circled a couple more times.

This time, it was her companions she was looking for. Anna or Karl. Or anything out of the ordinary.

Spoiler: OOC

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I don’t have access to the book, at the moment, but I was wondering if the Protean power allows her to change back and forth across a whole scene – or is it just a single change?

Like, can Aisling turn back to her humanoid form, talk to Karl and then turn back into a bird? Or would that require more blood points spent?

[Bennosuke]

With a little bit of work, Karl is able to get the kitchen window up. The glass pane slides open without too much noise, but when Karl looks in side, he realizes that a drying rack filled with glasses and bowls rests under the window.

Very slowly and very carefully, Karl lifts himself up and very carefully eases himself onto the window sill. Then somehow, flexing one leg up and over the bowl, Karl performs his greatest attempt at graceful acrobatics and vaults over the bowls, landing surprisingly quietly inside the kitchen.

(OOC: As stated above, the roll was at a -3 to get in, which turns Karl's roll into a chance dice, yet somehow Daishain gets two successes)

Aisling takes to the sky, again relishing the freedom of form provided by the raven's skin. From above, she can see Anna and Karl circling the cabin, and watches as Karl eases himself inside.

[Daishain]

Karl quickly slips around and opens another, larger, window for Anna's and hopefully Aisling's entry. He whispers to her, "I don't suppose you have any talents useful to ensure that the pig stays asleep for a time? Perhaps simply draining him a bit will do the trick."

"If we resort to the latter, it had best be you, I don't know if I'll be able to hold back from killing that one, we have some history."

[Erulasto]

Hopping up onto the window sill, Aisling ruffles her feathers as she peers down at the sleeping man. Much as she relished the freedom, the wings of a bird would not suffice inside, so Aisling released the power holding her in her black-feathered form.

Once more in human form, Aisling crouched low on the window before glancing to Karl and Anna.

"I can slip in and make an attempt at removing him. I am getting somewhat hungry..."

Aisling looks askance to Anna to ensure the vampire doesn't want to slip in and remove the obstacle herself. If she has no objection, Aisling swiftly pulls her shoes and socks off, wiggling her toes in pleasure. As much as Bernardo emphasised the need for shoes in this day and age, Aisling had spent so much time barefoot in the forest that it felt more...natural.

Lowering herself into the room quietly, Aisling creeps towards the pig man. Low to the floor, she quickly flits her eyes about to look for any other dangers, before advancing on the man. In tried and true fashion, she creeps up behind him and when the moment is right, her arms snake around his neck and mouth to stifle his cries.

With a baring of fangs, Aisling tears into his throat with relish.

Spoiler: OOC

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Unless Anna wants to go in and do the deed herself, here's some rolls. If Anna does want to do it, then please disregard this.

Dexterity 3 + Stealth 3 (+2 Move Silently)
(8d10)[1][1][6][3][2][10][10][6](39)

Wits 4 + Composure 3 for Perception!
(7d10)[9][2][5][8][3][3][1](31)

To initiate a grapple:

Strength 2 + Brawl 2 - Defense (?) + 2 for a Willpower point (Now 5/10 I believe?)
(4d10)[5][4][4][6](19) + (2d10)[7][3](10)

[Thundercracker]

Anna simply shook her head and stayed silent.

[Bennosuke]

A swift ruffling of feathers, and a darting black shadow in the room. Then Aisling was in the kitchen with Karl and Anna.

After a brief run of stifled debate, Aisling rushed over to the sleeping ghoul on silent bare feet. The man was rotund and smelled heavily of garlic and fried potatoes. But the smell wasn't coming from his mouth, instead it seemed to be an oily concoction spreading from his skin. He snored in long slow strained breaths, apparently unaware of the Gangrel looming over him.

The computer screen in front of the Ghoul flashed various video feeds, like on a security monitor. However, the images were not of the territory in the Marin Headlands. Video footage of different parts of San Francisco flashed on and off the screen; The Golden Gate Bridge, Tommy's Joynt elysium, the inside of some church, and the office space of Nicholas D'Agostino, among various other locations.

(OOC: I am going to say a grapple is unneeded to touch/hold/feed on the Ghoul, as he is sleeping. Aisling, or any other Kindred with a successful stealth roll to approach, should be able to initiate and maintain the kiss on this unsuspecting Ghoul. That said, I will probably roll to see if he wakes up after the pleasure of the kiss ends at the end of feeding... if you aren't going to just kill him).

[Erulasto]

The Gangrel was in her element as she latched onto the ghoul and began to feed. Despite her focus being fairly well attuned to her target, Aisling did make a note that both D’Agostino’s office and Tommy’s Joynt in Elysium were being spied upon. It wasn’t likely that Nicholas was aware of this – and it caused some uncomfortable questions to rise in her mind. How much of their plans had the Sheriff heard about?

Not to mention the bridge. Wasn’t that where they found Estella’s ashes? Could Schultz have had a hand in her death? It was seeming more likely by the moment.

With her task at hand, Aisling drew the blood from the Ghoul greedily, only stopping when she felt his skin begin to cool and pallor to set in.

Spoiler: OOC

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Aisling will take, I’d say about….4 blood points? Maybe 5?

[Bennosuke]

Aisling's fangs suddenly extend, ripping forward like they were fired from a gun. She dives into the sleeping man's neck, finding the artery before he can register the pain and fully awaken.

The blood is more than just delicious, it is superior, it is powerful, it is tainted with Kindred vitae. The feeding goes almost immediately to Aisling's head, and her Beast howls with growing desire. Over and over Aisling fills her mouth with shooting bursts of blood, letting the man's powerful heart do the work for her.

He moans slightly, his eyes fluttering open and shut, though not clearly registering anything.

Aisling continues to feed on hot mouthfuls of life till she is near sated. Just when she has decided to stop, her Beast whispers, "Take more, take it all. He is still alive! He is still a danger! And we are still hungry"

The man is beginning to rouse to consciousness.

Spoiler: OOC

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Aisling takes 4 blood points. Her Bestial condition wants her to take one more blood point and thus fill one of the man's last three health boxes, and thus resolve the condition. At this point his only negative modifiers to action will be his drained and swooned conditions. Someone should probably take him out before he wakes.

[Thundercracker]

Anna

Anna moved swiftly to the ghoul and put him in a chokehold, cutting off blood supply to his brain. Once he was out cold, she glared at Aisling.

“What are you doing?” she asked in a harsh whisper, “I thought we were here to bug the place and gather evidence? Now we have this to deal with!”

She pointed to the rotund ghoul.

“If we kill him, they’ll know someone was here, and if he wakes up, there’s a good chance he’ll know something is up and they might search the room and find the bugs,” she whispered, “what are we going to do?”

She quickly snapped a few photos of the screens, showing the locations.

[Erulasto]

The Beast’s call was strong in the Gangrel, and she couldn’t help but take that last little drop of blood that it craved, even as Anna came swooping in to catch the fading Ghoul in a chokehold. The blood…powerful as it was….broke the savage spell Aisling had been under, and she scuttled away from the Ghoul – blood still upon her lips – with a grimace.

”Forgive me.” Aisling mutters softly, lowering her gaze to the floor to avoid looking at Anna.

[Daishain]

"He's down for the count now, that is what we needed. Keep taking pictures Anna, we want to know exactly who he's spying on." Karl Scrolls through the camera feeds, making sure they get at least one picture showing each.

Then he takes out tonight's burner phone and calls Gabe. Assuming the ghoul answers, he will say, "Apologies for waking you, but something has come up. We have open access to a security terminal, one tied into camera feeds all across the city. You're more familiar with these Contraptions than I am, what would you do with this?"

[Bennosuke]

Aisling dives back in to feed on the ghoul, even as he is being choked unconscious by Anna. The Gangrel gluts herself on the man's blood, taking every last drop that her body can hold, even though it means taxing the man's body to a dangerous limit. The blood is so sweet, so satisfying, but when Aisling finally separates herself, she feels bloated, like a tick that has fed till near bursting.

The act is likely embarrassing for the other Kindred, such a foolish loss of control, though perhaps it is understandable. The Ghoul is now slumped over unconscious in his chair, breathing in fast gasping snores.

Gabe responds, "Well I'm not there, but usually with digital security feeds the footage is being recorded. See if you can find the files and then take them; email them to yourself, or use Drop Box or something. You do know what Drop Box is, right?"

(OOC: Aisling now has 10 blood points, resolves Bestial and gains a beat, now at 2 xp. Taking the files will be an easy Int/Wits+ Computers roll with +3 modifier).

[Thundercracker]

Spoiler

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Wits3 -1unskilled +3 = 5
(5d10)[5][3][5][1][6](20)
10 again: (5d10)[3][4][8][3][4](22)

Anna

"We'll talk later, let's just do what we came to do," Anna replied.

Unfortunately, she had no idea what kind of system was set up.

[Erulasto]

With a barely concealed grimace at the bloated feelings, Aisling cradled her stomach and rose to her feet. She looked at the monitors again, trying to pick out anything out of the ordinary on the screens. Any unusual activity where they were watching.

Spoiler: OOC

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Perception!
Wits 4 + Composure 3
(7d10)[3][8][4][6][3][8][6](38)

[Daishain]

Karl says irritably, "Yes I know what dropbox is. Let me know if there's anything else you can think of."

Karl hangs up, pulls out his good phone, and quickly looks up dropbox...

A few minutes later he's found the files and dumped a copy of them into a dummy dropbox account. Afterwards he tries to restore things to exactly how he found them.

He points to a likely spot with a view of the computer screen. "Let's get a camera up there to capture anything new. Right then, did anyone see any other opportunities we can exploit?"

[Bennosuke]

Karl has no difficulty transferring the files to himself, collecting what looks like hundreds of hours of video footage.

As Karl works, Aisling watches the monitor, and is surprised to see as the feed switches that there is a camera videoing Prince Gorman in what appears to be his private work room. The boy Prince sits in a high backed chair and reads a book while a voluptuous woman in maybe her mid twenties talks at him from the corner of the room. The camera appears to placed in the ceiling, looking down on the room.

[Daishain]

Karl grins as the computer does its work. Stealing secrets could be so much easier these days. He works to set the camera in a position to watch the monitor, hiding it as best he can.

When done, he says, "All right, we're done with this building I think. This might be enough for one night's work, but if there are any other vulnerabilities to exploit while we're here, I'd love to hear about them."

[Thundercracker]

Anna shook her head.

“I want to get out of here as quick as we can,” she said, “what about him?”
She pointed to the unconscious ghoul.

[Erulasto]

”Excellent work, Karl.” Aisling says, eyeing the computer uncomprehendingly. It was getting easier to use modern tools, but she some hurdles were too significant to clear in such a short period of time.

”As for the Ghoul…I could feed him some blood back…let him sleep it off? Would someone know what happened to him? Would he know?”

[Thundercracker]

Anna

“I think as long as he’s out when we leave, he shouldn’t have a clue,” Anna said, “let’s just get out of here while we can.”

She made to move towards the window they entered from and hopefully back to the car with the others.

[Daishain]

"Chances are he'll sleep this off and not remember anything. And even if he does suspect something happened, I think this one is a coward at heart, he'd never willingly admit to sleeping on the job."

"Yes, let's get out of here, we've gained a lot this night, no need to push our luck. I knew we could find something useful."

[Bennosuke]

The three Kindred make their way back to the car, following Anna's lead to avoid detection of the various cameras. Perchance they are aware of just what they have accomplished, and how much danger it may have put them in.

They reach their car without serious event, and with headlights off, drift back into the night.

(OOC: So where to now? Whose care and who's driving?)

[Thundercracker]

Anna

Spoiler

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the car is rented iirc.

Anna jumped into the front passenger seat and strapped herself in. She didn’t start to relax until they were well away.

“I can’t believe that actually worked,” she said.

“I think we should tell d’agnostino what we’ve found,” Anna said, “if he knows his office is being watched, he can feed false information to Shultz.”

She wanted to pay site visits to the mental hospitals in the area, but there were more pressing matters at hand...

[Daishain]

"Before we get back to the haven, lets go over those photos again, check for any familiar locations. I don't want to be caught discussing this stuff in front of the same cameras." Karl gets in and starts driving away, leaving the lights off until a safe distance from the compound.

"In regards to D'agostino, telling him about the cameras is certainly a priority, we don't need him to discuss something related to us in front of those things unknowingly. After that, I was going to suggest trading him a copy of the files for an appropriate boon. He has the resources needed to make better use of the information within than we are likely to be able to manage."

[Erulasto]

"I remember that one of the camera's was in D'Agostino's office. That one concerned me greatly. What dealings could the Sheriff have witnessed?" That was a thought that Aisling didn't want to have, as she sat quietly in the back seat. She was still uncomfortable after having fed so heavily, but at the same time there was a contented peace that had settled over the feral aggitation she had been feeling for the last while.

The Gangrel nodded to Karl and Anna, happy enough about the proposed course of action. Aisling did, however, send a quick text to Bernardo letting him know they had finished their errand and ask for a status update on Gabrielle.

[Bennosuke]

It was maybe an hour later when the Cotiere arrived via Uber at The Night Owl, Nicholas D'Agostino's nightclub. During that time the fog had rolled in, turning the otherwise well lit streets of San Francisco into a darkened sea of greyish white. Even still, there was a small line of youthful Kine waiting to get into the door. A familiar looking large bouncer, dark skinned and too much muscle for his overly tailored suit, stood at the door wearing sunglasses like it were daytime. He grinned as he saw the Cotiere coming down the block, and he smelled of gifted vitae.

(OOC: Did someone contact Nicholas or Tony ahead of time?)

[Thundercracker]

Anna

Anna called Nicolas as soon as they were clear of the Sheriffs territory.

“I’m sorry to call you directly sir, but we’ve found something important and we should meet as soon as possible, preferably before you have meetings with anyone else,” she said.

If she can’t get through, she would call Tony:

“Tony it’s Anna,” she said, not disguising the urgency in her voice, “we need to meet with your Sire, ASAP, he’s going to want to know what we’ve found, preferably before he has any meetings with anyone.”