IC-Vampire-The Chicago Chronicles

[CowMasterTrojan]

The following takes place the night of the Presidential Speech

In the City of Chicago, any kindred will tell you that the best place to go to party is AB Positive. A night club owned by kindred, and run for kindred. Loud music blares, colored lights flash, and the dance floors is filled kine who love the low alcohol prices. None of them think much of the dozen private rooms overlooking the dance floor, or the fact that it's quite possible to wake up the next day not remembering the previous night despite not remembering having anything to drink. All the neonates of the city flock there in droves, feeding on clueless kine and knowing that nothing can go wrong.

This of course, doesn't strike the fancy to either Cary or Vincent. Instead they frequent a joint two blocks down at a underground Bar. Called Bloody Mary, it's a bar that was saved from the days of prohibition. There's no sign and the entrance looks like a stairway into someone's basement. The bar makes most of it's money by catering as a gay bar for those who are still in the closet.

However the owner, a Hispanic Gangrel by the name Edwardo, keeps the bar closed on Thursday nights. Thursday Night, the bar is only open to kindred. He serves slightly high priced drinks mixed with blood, the only way most kindred will keep it down. It's quiet and hidden nature fits the taste of Cary and Vincent perfectly, and the two find themselves drinking there not long after 10 pm.

Describe yourselves, Roll a d10 to see your current blood points (If you roll under half you are at half, rounded down). In addition feel free to strike up a conversation with yourselves or Edwardo, who is the only person there at the moment.

The blood Mary
http://www.abeautifulbar.com/1890_marble_bar5.JPG

Edwardo
http://cache4.asset-cache.net/gc/142019476-hispanic-bartender-serving-cocktail-gettyimages.jpg?v=1&c=IWSAsset&k=2&d=L0AK4I6ChS%2FL1KaqWxzBYxC2MOY1OmMKvO%2FSEg5iepFQ vISoNIIHUyUAD0V61H3F

[MandibleBones]

http://i1294.photobucket.com/albums/b610/mandiblebones/cary_zps4546b20a.jpg
"Get off my lake."
Cary MacNamara sits at the bar, drinking a half-and-half ("Guinness and Kilkenny, not a 'Black and Tan'," he says). He's already told off one neonate looking to make a name for himself by taking down the independent, and traded nods of mutual respect — a sort of "I'll stay out of your way if you stay out of mine" — with the Prince's scourge.

"Kadim's coming in tonight, Ed," he informs the bartender. "Might want something without the alcohol."

[roll0] Guess that's half rounded down, then.

[CowMasterTrojan]

Sorry if you were waiting on me... I thought you were waiting for GWvsJohn

Edwardo gives a friendly smile to Cary, he was close enough to a regular that he enjoyed his company most of the time. A fact Cary never minded, seeing as how he was the only one that could mix a drink that tasted better than straight up blood.
"A Bloody Virgin, extra bloody" He says with a wink. "No time at all to make."

"You been up to no good lately Cary?" Edwardo adds, giving a little small talk.

[MandibleBones]

"Why, Ed, you wound me," Cary says. "You of all people know I'm a paragon of virtue. I help people find lost items, reconnect loved ones... I even got a cat out of a tree the other night."

He takes a long drink.

"I wasn't aware the cat was the Gangrel Primogen at the time, of course. My backside's just grown back."

[CowMasterTrojan]

He politely laughs at Cary's joke "Oh, I see... I can see how that would be confusing since the primogen has a long white tail."

Looking around he frowns "I wonder if there's something going on? This place is deader than normal."

[MandibleBones]

"I noticed — honestly, I thought you'd know; nose to the pulse of the Ivory Tower and all that." He pauses. "Ordinarily I like a good bit of quiet. Gives me time to think on what I want to do next. But something feels off about this one, like the calm before the storm. And on that subject, I am, in fact, an expert."

As the weather is likely to affect my self-control, what's it like? Clear? Cloudy? Stormy?

[CowMasterTrojan]

The weather is cloudy and hot.

With that note, I'm just going to get this ball moving in ways that I didn't expect so early and hope that GWvJohn comes back eventually.

Cary's phone begins to ring, and it catches him off guard. Pulling the old looking thing out, he checks the caller ID. It's his Sire.

[MandibleBones]

Cary feels the storm building already, even though the bar suddenly feels twenty degrees cooler to the grizzled Lasombra. He downs the rest of his drink in a single pull, letting the "Angel" theme of his ringtone play almost all the way to the end, before flipping the the Razor open and addressing his sire for the first time in five years.

"Good evening, Don Rafael," he says, and if he suddenly sounds more formal than Ed has ever heard him, it only stands to reason why. "Given that my respected and beloved mentor has called me out of the blue, on the eve of a summer storm and not thirty seconds after someone said (and I paraphrase) 'It's quiet... too quiet', I assume something has gone horribly wrong with the state of the world. In what way might I assist you in fixing it, sir?"

[CowMasterTrojan]

I'm sorry, I accidentally deleted your well planned out Lineage.

"Yes, that does sound like foreboding of a bad situation. I'm not sure if my news fits that or not" He says with a uncomfortable laugh. "I'll be frank. It's about my sire, and your grand sire. Apparently there was a Sabbat Cell in Chicago, and he was leading it. Two nights ago the cell was attacked by a pack of werewolves. He was targeted, and almost killed. He's in torpor now. The survivors of the sabbat cell took his body, and have hidden themselves somewhere in the city. Considering it's your neck of the woods, I felt I should tell you. If you wanted to kill the old bastard, you won't get a better chance. If you wanted to save him and earn his eternal gratitude, now would be a good time for that too."

[MandibleBones]

"There's a pack of werewolves in the city?" Cary exclaims. "Yes, I should definitely investigate that. Maybe I can do something about Talley... though I admit, I haven't decided what, yet." He looks at the phone suspiciously. "How did you find out? Are you in town?"

[CowMasterTrojan]

"Apparently" He responds to the werewolves. "No, I am nowhere near Chicago. But I still know people who know people in the sabbat. For some one of his importance, that was likely important news in the Sabbat." He says in a condescending tone. "So when a friend of mine heard about it, he passed it on. I know it's not much to go on. But I figured it was better than not knowing."

[MandibleBones]

Cary rolls his eyes ever-so-slightly, thankful that neither he nor his sire has a video phone. "Yes, thank you sir," he says. "I should never have doubted your information-gathering ability. My mistake." He shakes his head. "Thank you for bringing this to my attention; I'll go do something about it. In payment, did you have a preference as to whether you'd like to see your sire alive, dead, or in torpor under a mountain somewhere?" Or encased in concrete at the bottom of my lake, Cary thinks.

[CowMasterTrojan]

He pauses for a moment. It was clear he didn't expect Cary to ask that. "No... err, that is... I don't care. The blood bond has long since worn off between the two of us and you know better than anyone that I hate the old bastard. But I'm not about to order you to kill him. That choice is yours."

[MandibleBones]

"And that is why I respect you, sir," Cary says. "Night go with you." He hangs up. "Ed," he says to the bartender. "Looks like there's a pack of lupines in town. So far they've only hit our very special inbred cousins, but who knows if that'll keep? Might want to tell your brothers." He flips the barkeep payment for the drink and walks out toward the night to think.

Now, if I were a pack of wounded, murderous malcontents, where would I be laying low? he thinks.

Intelligence+Investigation, I assume, since I'm trying to figure this out without help so far. [roll0]

Edit: If I remember correctly, that's four successes?

[CowMasterTrojan]

The number of successes depends on the difficulty, which you wouldn't know. But had the difficulty been 8, yes that would have been 4 successes. Had it been 6, then it would have been five successes.

Cary thinks for a moment, trying to imagine where he would go if he had to lay low. Well certainly with the bad economy and several industrial places closing down, there would be several abandoned warehouses in the industrial park of Chicago's south side. Further more, a Ventrue by the name of Jimmy the Rat supposedly has the ability to help people disappear. He's camarilla though, supposedly. He also remembered hearing that there was a Tzimisce doctor working for the Giovanni mob. Where he might be is another uncertainty, he would probably have to go looking for thugs around the docks area to find out.

Edwardo gives Cary the friendly wave as he leaves, and locks up behind him. With no business, he must feel the need t lay low. As Cary walks out of the alley, he notices a whole group of police cars and government black vans parked outside the Alleyway of AB Positive. Something's going down at the old camarilla controlled bar.

[MandibleBones]

"My kingdom for a Nosferatu," he murmurs, wishing, not for the first time, that he'd learned obfuscate. "Or that Kadim had actually arrived, as he said he would." He pulls a few shadows around him anyway, to make him less obtrusive — besides, if the cops turn on him as he walks by, he might need the few seconds a little Abyss-driven intimidation would provide.

Cary walks as nonchalantly as he can past Club AB, listening and looking like any other curious onlooker, but steering way around the police and sticking to the shadows. He'll cut around them and head to the docks once he's past, but if a club full of neonates is being raided, he needs to know why — for his own good, if nothing else.

Yes, I was thinking of Exalted, where base target number is 8. It's been a while since I've played V:tM as a tabletop game instead of a LARP :-)

Spending one blood trait to activate Obtenebration 1: Shadow Play for the duration of the scene, adding +1 die to my stealth rolls. This should mean my roll is Dex (3) + Stealth (1) + SP (1), so [roll0]. He's not really trying to be hidden, not just suspicious. Edit: Well, I hope the diff is 7 or less on this, or that's a botch...

[CowMasterTrojan]

Generally speaking, stealth rolls are just opposed by perception rolls. Whomever has higher successes succeeds, so the difficulty is generally 6. That being said, consider yourself lucky that they're distracted with only one success.

As Cary walks by, he see's very little. The cops that he does see, are standing at ready with their guns point at the alleyway incase anything comes out. Meanwhile it's clear that they're definitely at AB positive, because the two metal doors seem to be kicked open. Smoke seems to be leaking out the door, most likely tear gas. However what's going on inside, he can't tell for sure. Nothing good is what his guts tell him.

[MandibleBones]

"And not just my kingdom," Cary amends, continuing to walk. It is not my job to police the Campires. It is not my job to rescue the Campires. I do not have the capability of rescuing the Campires, he thinks. When he's past the noise, he circles around toward the docks, wondering what Sabbat have dared to trespass on his Lake.

While he walks, he sends a text to Kadim: Where are you? Trouble in town. Reply soonest.

[CowMasterTrojan]

The walk to the docks leave Cary feeling jumpy. The streets are practically clean of people. The few people he does see walk quickly and are watchful of Cary if they manage to see him. Cary's intuition continues to give him a bad feeling, and Kadim's lack of a response only furthers this possible paranoia. However he arrives at the docks with no trouble at all.

Just before he reaches his boat's pier, he notices a cluster of empty bullet shells and blotches of dried blood. Looks like the mob had some more business down her tonight, a event Cary had indirectly seen several times.

[MandibleBones]

Cary kneels by the blood and shells, trying to get an idea of which of Chi-town's many factions fired these particular bullets. Hopefully they weren't fired at my boat, he thinks. The blood is likely too dry to determine whether it comes from Kindred or kine, if he can even make that distinction, but he finds the wettest looking patch and gives it his level best.

Perception+Investigation [roll0]

[CowMasterTrojan]

The blood is no more than a few hours old. Furthermore, a kindred wouldn't bleed this much. So Cary knows it's kine. Just to be sure, he takes his taste before quickly spitting it out. The blood tasted terrible, almost like it was spoiled.

The shells indicate semi-automatic weapons. For the mob, that doesn't really narrow anything down. Could be Camarilla or Giovanni controlled. Or both if this got messy enough. The odd thing is that no police are out here making the empty motions of tracking it down.

When he gets a chance to look, he finds a stray bullet hole in a non-important window. Beyond that, the boat is untouched.

[MandibleBones]

Cary grabs a camera from inside his boat, takes a quick photo of the bullet hole to mail to his insurance provider later, and starts quickly throwing various things into a backpack. "Camera, charger, memory card, extra battery, lenses..." he mutters. "Phone contacts, lockpicks, city maps, case journal..." He pauses, looking at the old Colt 1911 sitting in his nightstand, then shakes his head. "More trouble than it's worth tonight," he murmurs, knowing he doesn't have a concealed carry permit. He picks up a locking utility knife instead, and resolves to train his own potence at the earliest opportunity. Last to go in is a seven year old used laptop that he keeps having repaired, having spent too much time getting comfortable with it to upgrade to anything newer.

"Right," he says, locking the boat behind him and setting off for where he knows the abandoned warehouses are. "Nothing left to do here. Best to keep moving; I've got a bad feeling about tonight."

[CowMasterTrojan]

Does Cary have a car? Or would he need to take a cab?

[CowMasterTrojan]

Cary pulls out his phone and quickly calls for a cab. To his surprise, he gets a repeated busy signal. If he waits and calls back, to his surprise the number is still busy. With a little effort finding a phone book, he finds a few more places and starts calling them all. Busy. Busy. A recorded message saying 'We're sorry, but at this time we cannot dispatch any cabs'. Busy. Etc.

[MandibleBones]

"I have the worst feeling about this," Cary says, out loud this time. For a moment, he contemplates just getting on his boat, motoring out into the middle of the lake, and staying there for a few nights until his hunger can no longer bear it. Instead, he starts walking in the direction of the nearest L station. He might at least get closer to his intended destination before trying to walk the whole way.

[CowMasterTrojan]

With his quick thinking, Cary heads over to the train station pickup not far from the docks. Within a half hour, he's happily boarding the train headed south to the main station where he would have to change trains. To his disappointment a sign has been posted as he boards that reads


As per order of the united states government, all trains headed outbound of the city have been temporarily suspended. We apologize for the inconvenience.

[MandibleBones]

"No, no, no, no," Cary murmurs. "They can't do that. It's unconstitutional. The only reason they could ignore that is Patriot Act, and only if they had... suspicion of..." he trails off. Terrorism, he thinks. "Oh, 'Tano's blood. This is not good at all." Cary turns off his phone entirely and removes the battery before running off to find the nearest internet café.

[CowMasterTrojan]

Cary gets some odd looks as he turns and runs out of the train pickup point, but no one makes a point of stopping him. Unable to find a internet cafe in the area, he settles on a starbucks that is still open. They provide coffee and free internet, so it's basically the same thing.

[MandibleBones]

Cary forces himself to calm down, orders a mocha with an extra shot, and even springs for the pastry, taking the time to ask the barista what she thinks pairs best with his drink. Because when you don't take the extra time to uphold the Masquerade, Cary thinks, things like THIS happen.

Since he's checking for clues on his own computer, he has to be a little more careful than he would be otherwise. No using the search engine to search for "Chicago+Vampires," anyway. If he had a means of hiding his address... but Cary's just managed to figure out the internet. Hacking, especially Hollywood's idea of hacking, is so far beyond him it might as well be a Cappadocian.

Instead, he starts with Chicago news sites, just browsing, really, then moves on to Fark. He clicks a few links at random until he hits the requisite "fringy" sites — WND, Pravda, and a few others — and starts looking from there. Anything that seems like it might lead back to Chicago and the Kindred who live here. Cary tries to make it look like an ordinary digression from "serious news" into "crackpot conspiracy theories," so anyone watching won't assume he's really checking for Masquerade breaches.

He puts his mocha up to his lips now and then, even gets a little of it on them, though he never really drinks. He's not the first person to mooch WiFi and a wall outlet off a Starbucks, and he seriously doubts he'll be the last.

[CowMasterTrojan]

He bought the drink. No one cares if he drinks it.... in theory.

It doesn't take Cary long in his search to find what he's looking for. And he doesn't like what he finds.



President Announces Existence of Vampires & Werewolves. No, this is not a joke.

June 28th. 10pm CST. In a stunning announcement to the world just an hour ago, President Palin shocked the world with what most would consider terrifying news. To everyone's horror, she revealed that the reports around the world of both Werewolves and Vampires. Yes, that's right. Vampires and Werewolves are real. "Existing side by side with us, hiding among us, are two different breeds of infected species that used to be human. But they aren't any more. They've been secretly responsible for countless deaths and crimes through history, and they have survived because we didn't want to believe they existed."

Most are still reacting to this news, and many not so well. Panic has yet to hit the streets, but internet chatter over the subject has slowed most services down to a crawl due to increased activity.

The president went on to say that a new government branch is being formed to combat these individuals. The Supernatural world organization of required defense. Or S.W.O.R.D. as they're calling it. At this time lock-down and martial law has been established for Washington DC, Boston, New York, Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angelos, and Seattle.

Opponents of the presidents actions were quick to condemn the presidents actions. Majority leader Pelosi (D) stated 'this is just a power play and scare tactic for a unpopular president during a election year. I've yet to see anything to prove these aren't fake videos meant to scare the public into doing everything the president wants.' Her actions refer to the presidents Executive Order to suspend habeas corpus. A action not taken since the civil war by president Lincoln. Of course that was also the last war fought on American soil.

So the question to be asked "Is this the next war on terror?" or "Is this just some sort of weird hoax?". As of right now, people are divided. However those that take the president at face value are absolutely terrified. And for good reason. For the moment, we will just have to wait and see what develops.

[MandibleBones]

I must not panic. Panic will only lead to obliteration.

Cary leaves, checking, unobtrusively, to ensure is not being followed. He takes his cup and pastry with him, dumping the coffee cup in a trash can a block away. The pastry he saves... he never knows when he might need to bribe a homeless guy.

Do I risk the woods? Do I risk the lupines? Do they even care?

But Cary knows who will care, who must already know, or have been compromised. He walks to a pay phone and calls his sire on the land line, hoping he gets an answer.

[CowMasterTrojan]

It rings repeatedly but after several rings, but eventually Rafael answers.
"Hello?" He says with a suspicious tone.

[MandibleBones]

"Sir," Cary says, without preamble. "The mask has fallen. The Friends* must be informed, if indeed they are not already aware." He pauses. "And if they are aware, and they have a plan, I should like to know my part in it."

*Les Amis Noir, or the Friends of the Night, is the council of elder Lasombra — mostly Sabbat, some few independent, and even some of the oldest antitribu of the Camarilla — who conspire to advance the cause of the Lasombra in the world. They are usually not in agreement, and most antitribu stay out of their politics since the formation of the Sabbat. Cary has never met any of them, but he knows Don Rafael has — Cary suspects his sire may even be one of them himself.

[CowMasterTrojan]

He pauses for a long time. "I don't know what's come down with you child. But this isn't funny."

After many reassurances, he grows quit. "Thank you for informing me. I shall pass the word to those who need to know."

[MandibleBones]

When the conversation is finished, Cary is still shaken. He tries the cab service again from the pay phone, just to confirm it's the whole cab service, not just his phone.

When that fails, he walks from the pay phone back toward the L station, paying attention around him as unobtrusively as possible. Every instinct is still screaming to get on his boat and leave town, but his rational mind tells him it's a bad idea: he'll be frenzied in less than a week even if he doesn't run into trouble, and in torpor shortly thereafter — if he doesn't run into a pack of savage lupines well before that.

He wants to track down more information, but Cary's never been this at-risk before. Usually, when tracking down clues for a client, he's not the one in danger —*and if he is, it's from a couple of mob toughs or corporate security guards, not government hit squads. Something like this requires real infiltration talent, and Cary's not good at that. He wishes Kadim were here. It's not for the first time.

I didn't have plans for this, Cary thinks. Oh, sure, I planned for little breaches here and there, but I didn't plan for the whole bloody Masquerade to fall in a night.

In ancient days, he knows, a Lasombra might find sanctuary at a church... but those days are long past, and even though Cary is far too young to remember the Inquisition, its lessons are hammered into his head.

With no idea how to get out of this, he takes the L back toward his boat, finds a bar, orders a drink and sits down with everyone else to watch the inevitable news.

[CowMasterTrojan]

The bar is unusually quiet, as everyone watches the news screen as anchors on Fox News review the presidents speech. They say little that Cary doesn't know already, but the underlining level of fear is apparent.

At some point, they replay part of the president's speech.

"...And so it is with great regret that I must inform the country that a great change is about to occur. But we, as Americans, have always banded together in hard times. We have always done what is required of us to carry on, as a nation. And I am sure that this time will be no different."

"Now most of you at home are wondering what I'm talking about that could warrant such radical changes. I will show you, but first I must warn you that what you are about to see is graphic in nature. If there are children in the room, or individuals with weak hearts, please have them leave the room."

The president pauses for a moment, clearly giving time for children to leave the room. After a moment, she nods for someone behind the camera to roll the video.

Several video clips are quickly played. On it are several different scenarios where a vampire is killing a person. In one, a man's arm is ripped off with the vampire's bare hands. In another, a vampire is drinking a woman dry. In another, a man punches a kid's skull through like it was cardboard. Then the video changes to vampires who have been caged, and their appearance is much more obvious. They're being poked and prodded, and they raise their fangs in a defensive position. Then the video changes to a giant man-bird (a corax), who is trapped in a shark cage and seems to have gone a bit hysterical. The final video is security camera footage. In an alley, it shows a man fighting a werewolf in Crinos form (that looks absolutely feral) with a knife while a person off camera peppers it with bullets. After that, it cuts back to the president.

"What you've just seen is not fake. It is real footage, collected from around the world. What's been hiding in plain sight all along is that humanity is not alone in this world. Existing side by side with us, hiding among us, are two different breeds of infected species that used to be human. But they aren't any more. They've been secretly responsible for countless deaths and crimes through history, and they have survived because we didn't want to believe they existed."
"The first kind is what we historically have called Vampires. Initial autopsies indicate that are animated dead. At this time we only know for sure that they do indeed hide during the day, and feed on humans at night. If they attack, they may drink a human dry of all blood given the opportunity. If you see a suspected Vampire, call the police and avoid them at all costs."

"The second of the infected types is much more varied, known as shape changers or Lycanthropes. The infection appears to bond them to animals of a various degree, but at this time it appears wolves and birds are the most common. Lycanthropes are even more dangerous because they can walk among human society even less noticed, have a tendency to eat their human victims, and produce a pheromone that makes those nearby unable to remember what happened. If you see one of these creatures, find the nearest object of silver and use extreme precaution."

The president slams her fist down onto the oak desk.
"From this moment on, I am declaring a official war on those infected. For those that wish to turn themselves over so we might study a cure, you will quarantined but otherwise unharmed. For all others who might not be so cooperative, know that we will find you. We will hunt you for as long as it takes, and we will give you no quarter. We are not your prey any longer."

"From this moment on, I am issuing an executive order that suspends habeas corpus until this war has ended. In addition, I am announcing the creation of a new Bureau that specializes in the hunting and identifying of those infected. The Supernatural world Organization of Required Defense, or S.W.O.R.D. Over the next few months, SWORD will start in major cities throughout the country and work their way through other smaller cities."

"Begining tonight, they will start locking down the following cities looking for the infected. Washington DC, Boston, New York, Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angelos, and Seattle. But this will quickly move on. The infected will be found, and decontaminated. Do not be alarmed if you live in these cities, as traffic may be slowed by road blocks and mandatory checks. It will be inconvenient, but it will also be necessary for your safety. Please cooperate with the random house checks that may happen. If you're not infected, you have nothing to fear."

[MandibleBones]

"Can she do that to American citizens?" Cary asks the bar out loud. "I mean, if these things are infected, can she really just round up citizens for having a disease, or whatever this really is, with no due process?" He shakes his head. "Might as well make these 'werewolves,' or whatever they are, wear yellow stars. How much longer 'til we're shipping off anyone suspected of being a werewolf or a vampire to prison camps? How much longer 'til gas chambers and crematoriums? Our own goddamn holocaust, right here in the good old U.S. of A." He downs his drink, grimacing at the taste, but needing it to sell the illusion, and slams the glass on the table just hard enough to make a solid sound. "Heil Palin," he finishes, and orders another drink.

Spending a willpower to keep down food/drink until the end of the scene. I'm well aware that he'll puke up anything he's drank at that point, but hey, that's within paradigm as well.

Also: [roll0] for Manip+Intimidation. I am trying to scare these people into action — not making them scared of me, but scared of the President's unilateral action. Maybe they'll start a protest. Maybe they'll go home and hold their families tight, scared of this dictator. Cary's just really not sure what else to do, and if he can sow the seed of dissent, so much the better.

[CowMasterTrojan]

The bar looks at Cary curiously. The people are frightened, and his words contradict what the safety of authority is saying. However his words do have a certain degree of influence. The bar watches him curiously, and one man does call him a liberal fool but none openly challenge him. So his words have effected the people's minds, but they are no where near being impassioned with his views.

[MandibleBones]

Discouraged, Cary drinks a few more, then staggers outside and vomits it all up in an alley. He starts walking back to his boat, hoping he appears appropriately drunk and mortal.

I should get a lawyer, he thinks, but realizes that if he's premature with revealing himself, there are a whole slew of elders who will try to kill him far worse than any government goon squads. Gotta wait it out; see what's what, he thinks.

[CowMasterTrojan]

Ha! I believe you're the only kindred to have that thought so far.

Cary returns to his boat unharmed. The streets are beaten, as the city is gripped in fear.

The next day, he awakes just like every other night. Minus one blood point. What does he do?

[MandibleBones]

Having spent the remainder of the evening reading what few legal textbooks he has stored on the boat, he immediately calls a lawyer with whom he is familiar on rising the next evening. Cary lets the lawyer know he's interested in assistance with a lawsuit, but needs to meet outside normal office hours due to a few cases he's juggling.

When that's set up, he reviews the news to make sure nothing has changed in the last twelve hours, and attempts to get a word-for-word copy of the executive order. He also digs out his actual birth certificate from a fireproof safe in the hold, as well as a few other identifying documents (discharge papers from the Navy, among others).

Given that he's worked as a PI for a while, it seems likely he knows a lawyer or two willing to work evening hours.

Don't feel the need to reproduce the Executive Order; Cary's just getting materials for the lawsuit.

[CowMasterTrojan]

Roll Intelligence+Law+Contacts

[CowMasterTrojan]

I must say, I am surprised that a PI doesn't have any dots in contacts.

Cary finds a lawyer that is willing to meet with him at such a late hour on the following night. He is requesting a 300 dollar consultation fee ahead of time however.

[MandibleBones]

$300 is easy enough to meet, and Cary agrees. Tonight, however, there's the issue of finding enough blood to ensure he doesn't go crazy the next night, which means back out into the streets.

Assuming the L is still running, he risks venturing into Camarilla territory, staying as far away from the established rack as he can. If the president's goons have caught any campires — and he suspects they have — there's no sense in walking into the inevitable trap.

He's looking for a dark alley. A mugging-in-progress would be best, but he's looking for anyone who looks like a shallow feeding won't kill them. And he's specifically avoiding anywhere that looks like the cops are around.


I must say, I am surprised that a PI doesn't have any dots in contacts.

Yeah, I ran out of background dots and, frankly, contacts isn't used quite as much in the LARP conversion (in theory it does the same thing, in practice most STs don't want to deal with contacts for 20 people). I'll buy some up next XP I get.

[CowMasterTrojan]

Ow! It's a straight perception roll.

Hour 1[roll0]
Hour 2 [roll1]
Hour 3 [roll2]
Hour 4 [roll3]


Four hours later, and Cary has found less than a mouse fart sneaking about. Crime is non existent at the moment, or so it would seem.

Police cruisers frequent the streets, but they seem to be making a appearance more than anything. Thankfully, he sees no sign of SWORD.

It's now a little after 2 a.m. and he's been wandering for hours. With dawn at 4:35am, turning in may be a good option.

[MandibleBones]

Cary heads back to the docks, looking to turn in. If he can find someone — anyone — easily separated from the herd on the way, he'll stop; otherwise, he's going to have to chance tomorrow hungry. Maybe he can find someone to get him animal blood in large quantities. As rank as it tastes, it beats a frenzy all hollow...

Straight perception? Wow. That's absolutely harsh. I wonder if they fixed that in V20...

I'm having an "Andrew at the butcher" moment here...

[CowMasterTrojan]

They did indeed 'fix'. I don't think it's that bad, until we take into the fact you have a -2 to perception rolls. That's a bit harsh.

The streets are deader than him, and other than a police patrol car, he sees no one on the way home. Thankfully Cary is able to duck behind a parked car as it drives by.

Returning home, he finds that the blood has finally been cleaned up from the shootout the other night. And with that he rests for the night, and thankfully undisturbed.

Does he make any preparations before he goes to meet the lawyer?

[MandibleBones]

Other than bringing his documentation of citizenship, veteran information, and a few diaries, no. I suppose he locks the boat again.

[CowMasterTrojan]

As he looks over, he see's a cluster of unsavory characters unloading some wooden crates from a boat onto a truck. They seem to be familiar enough with him that they don't bother him, or they just don't care.

As he begins leaving the docks, he sees a fancy black sedan headed that way. The same kind the mob always uses. Which means either someone important is about to show up, or there's about to be another shootout.

[MandibleBones]

This time, Cary's curiosity does get the best of him — he might be a little late for his meeting with the lawyer, but if the guy charges by the minute, the Kindred suspects the bloodsucker won't mind.

[CowMasterTrojan]

As a general rule, if I take more than 48 hours to respond to something, feel free to post again yelling at me. I open up multiple tabs when I'm responding in threads, and sometimes I miss one and it gets bumped down below my other active threads.

The goons on the dock see the vehicle at the last minute, and scramble for what they realize is coming. Dropping their crates, they either run behind cover or run for their own weapons. However the people in the vehicle are ready, and begin shooting before they even get completely there. The sounds of gunfire can be heard for miles as all hell breaks loose, and bullets go flying back and forth.