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

[Erulasto]

”I…” Aisling starts, voice choking off with a thick emotional backlash. ”It is…hard…to not let my Beast avenge itself. Even one target. If…if Anna came with me…we could both..feed while we are at it? Kill two birds…one stone…”

The Gangrel was doing her best to keep herself in check, but she wasn’t wrong. The trauma of the last night’s events would have been hard to overcome for anyone, let alone a vampire trapped with the physical and emotional maturity of a teenager.

[Thundercracker]

“Alright,” Anna said, “Aisling come with me, Lilith stay with Karl since you don’t have a phone.”

“We’ll go for a quick hunt, find someone to beat up and feed from, and meet you at the hotel before dawn,” she said. It would be cutting it close but she was damn thirsty and she didn’t want to end up falling asleep next to an Aisling at risk of going into Fenzy.

[Daishain]

Karl simply states, "Be careful out there." before moving to address his current appearance.

After he's ready to not raise red flags when appearing at a hotel, he'll tell Lillith, "If you're coming, then come on. I don't know if you want to stay around me or the others of my coterie right now though. We've made ourselves into targets these past few nights. It certainly wasn't something I wanted to do, but Gorman didn't give us much of a choice."

[Ladorak]

Eliza smiles in gratitude at Anna and gladly takes the phone, then snorts at what Karl says 'We all played a part but I'm the one who beheaded the Prince. That sort of notoriety is usefully in the long run, if you survive it in the short. I should be asking if you're sure one want to hook up with me.'
Eliza has precisely one number memorized, and that was the number she dialed, her closest (And only real) friend Eliza Carmine. As it rings she gives wracked her brain for a suitable candidate to throw to the wolves.

Spoiler: OOC

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Can I use 'Where the bodies are buried' merit to find a suitable ally of Gorman to throw to Aisling, someone who really deserves it.

[Bennosuke]

The phone rings several times before finally picking up. Eliza's voice on the other line is deep, husky, but tired. "Hello darling. It's a bit late my dear... not to mention with the terrible events of tonight's Elysium." She speaks as if she were an actress from the 1950s, her voice deep and dramatic.

(OOC: @Ladorak, please give me Int+Politics + Status (Invictus)

@Erulasto/TC: How will you be hunting? I would say you only get one roll for this one given the limited amount of time before dawn. )

[Ladorak]

Lilith grinned, it was good to hear her voice, but she'd never say that 'Glad I caught you darling. And I know all about what happened at Elysium, and the Prince's haven come to that. Dreadful affair. I was just calling to make sure you're ok. A lot of dead folks are staying dead after tonight, if you see what I mean.'

Spoiler

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Int+Politics + Status (Invictus)
4+0+2
(6d10)[9][2][8][7][3][7](36)
10again
(6d10)[6][8][10][7][7][9](47)

[Bennosuke]

"Oh, terrible, just terrible," Eliza replies, and Lillith can just as easily imagine the lady throwing an arm over her forehead in a swoon, as she could imagine her grinning hungrily like a shark. She adds, "I am all locked up in my haven, waiting for this to blow over Darling. Please tell me you are safe and sound."

As they were talking, Lillith's mind continued to turn, the first name that popped into her head was Zachary Thomas, a neonate of the Invictus who was likely a trust fund baby from Palo Alto, and who remained an infantile sycophant in un-life. He had practically licked the now ex-Prince's boot heels upon joining The Conspiracy, and once or twice had tried stepping over Lillith in the process.

[Ladorak]

'I am... sort of. I lost several million dollars in sales when Elysium went up. And I guess I managed to paint a pretty big target on my back tonight. That's why I'm calling, it's no secret we're close and there's plenty of monsters in the city who'll go through you to get to me without a second thought. You stay locked up safe. I'll call you tomorrow, love and kisses darling.'

She hung up without waiting for an answer and handed the phone back to Anna. Eliza would hear all about it soon enough, gossip shared spread almost as fast as secrets sold. She turned to Aisling with a wicked grin spreading across her face 'I think I've got just the man for you. Rich, lazy, useless, seemed content to spend his eternal unlife licking the Prince's arse. How does that sound to you?'

[Bennosuke]

Lillith hangs up the phone just as the woman on the other line begins to growl, "What do you mean Lillith? What did you d-"

Seconds after hanging up, Lillith's phone begins to blow up with text messages (not encrypted messages via The Pulse but regular text messages). The stream of texts boils down to a series of accusatory "What did you do?"

[Ladorak]

Spoiler: OOC

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Anna's phone :p

[Thundercracker]

Anna Wu

Anna texted back.

“That depends, who is asking?”

“I’m okay as long as we go soon,” Anna said, “up to you Aisling, bootlicker or hunting?”

[Erulasto]

”That sounds….perfect” Aisling practically purred, the Beast shining in her eyes as she relished the thought of digging her claws into the whimpering little sycophant. If she could not have killed the Prince, then she would content herself with one of his lackeys.

”I am ready to leave now, Anna.” Aisling said, a small – but dangerous – smile playing on her youthful face.

[Thundercracker]

Anna checked the maps from her phone, if the sycophant was somewhat on the way to her car she would stop there first to pick up cash, a change of clothes, and her weapon.

“Let’s go,” she said.

[Ladorak]

'Yes, the night is running out, we should go. No promises though. I know where Zach normally hangs his hat, but this isn't a normal night. I also know about a couple of his boltholes, probably not all of them.'

[Erulasto]

Aisling nodded thoughtfully while following behind Anna. She had nothing save the clothes on her back and her phone to worry about. Doing her best to keep the Beast in check, it raged in her head at the prospect of sinking tooth and claw into the undead flesh of this Zach.

”Where is he? Can you send us the locations?” Aisling asked of Lilith. ”Or ask him to meet you someplace we can ambush him?”

[Bennosuke]

Anna's phone lit up with a number of texts filled with curses and accusations, all with the assumption that it was Lillith on the other line.

Spoiler: OOC@Ladorak

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So in regards to where the bodies are buried, the assumption is that the character doesn't actually know the information, but that she knows where to get it. While knowing Zach's haven or boltholes is not technically a question listed in the merit, I'm fine with Lillith using her Invictus connections to gain this information. However, as per the drawback, someone else in the Invictus will know about it.

Otherwise, Lillith only has the basic knowledge about Zach and his domain that anyone else in the covenant might.

Spoiler: OOC@Daishain

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Please give me a clear list of the things Karl is going to accomplish while Anna and Aisling "hunt"

[Thundercracker]

Anna decided on calling Lilith’s contact.

[Bennosuke]

The phone doesn't even ring once before the line picks up. The woman on the other line's voice is harsh, like wind was being pushed through sand paper rather than vocal folds to create speech, and she was practically screaming. "Lillith? Lillith! What did you mean by that? What did you do?" The woman was frantic, perhaps near frenzy, and raving into the phone.

[Thundercracker]

Anna

Anna talked as she and Aisling moved.
“First of all, this isn’t Lilith, she just borrowed my phone,” Anna said.

“Second...”
Anna considered for a moment whether there was any point in trying to keep anything secret. Considering there were about a dozen witnesses, probably not.

“D’agnostino declared a blood hunt on Gorman tonight, after the fire at Elysium,” Anna said, “Lilith is the one who eventually decapitated the former Prince.”

[Ladorak]

Lilith made a point of looking the other way and affecting disinterest, it made hiding the smile far easier. Replying to Aisling she simply says 'It would be a lot easier if I just tagged along. Don't worry though, I'll leave the... finish for you.'

Spoiler: OOC

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That's fine, I'm ok with someone else finding out it was me.

[Erulasto]

The Gangrel was full of anxious energy, but stood as straight and rigid as she could to help contain her vengeful Beast.

At Lilith’s offer to come with, she gave a curt nod of acquiescence.

That would make the kill much easier.

"That would be...appreciated."

[Bennosuke]

Lillith had a number of contacts among the Nosferatu in the Invictus. Though their numbers were few within the Covenant, the Haunts were a tight knit group who always kept a finger on the pulse of information. It was mostly the Invictus Nosferatu in Silicon Valley who designed and ran the Pulse and controlled the Kine through social media. It took no more than a few quick text messages to get the address of Zach's apartment haven in The Mission District, the electronic passcode to his front door, and the license plate number to his Honda Civic.

Of course, Lillith's contacts were likely to just as easily sell her out for more information, as they were to give her this, but that was something to worry about later. Lillith passed this information on to Anna and Aisling, who were already rushing out the door.

The woman's voice on the other end of Anna's phone conversation was mocking in response to her claim, "Hah! Lillith beheading Prince Gorman? Perhaps in a sculpture that she made, but not in reality my dear. That's the biggest lie I've heard since Picasso told me I was his first lover!"

Soon Aisling, Lillith and Anna were back at the Mekhet's car, and off for the Mission District.

Spoiler: OOC@All

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@TC/Erulasto: So I'm happy to set the scene, but what is your approach going to be? Busting the door down, going in with stealth ect???

@Daishain: As previously asked, what's Karl's next move?

[Thundercracker]

Anna Wu

“He was already in torpor, so beheading the Prince at that point wasn’t the suicide mission it would have been,” Anna replied, “so how do you know Lilith?”

Anna retrieved her sword and strapped it on, feeling complete again. Kind of ironic there was a Prince deposed and she was in the middle of it, and her weapon was left out of all of it.

She put the phone on mute as she sat in the driver seat of the Porsche.

“So how do you want to do this?” she asked, “kick in the front door, try to sneak in?”

Spoiler

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Im for going in quietly if we can, take him by surprise. Also I thought Lilith was coming with us.

[Bennosuke]

Spoiler: OOC

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TC is correct and I misread the situation. I have corrected my last IC post to show that Lillith is with Anna and Aisling.

The three pull up about a block away from Zach's building. Unlike the traditional painted lady architecture of San Francisco, the block seems to be filled with new two to four story apartment buildings of more modern design; all tall windows and paneled facades. Lillith can get the group in through the front door, thanks to the passcode she obtained through her Invictus networking, but who knew what sort of cameras or other security systems were in place... or if the vampire was even home yet.

Spoiler: OOC@TC/Lad

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I am going to leave it up to Ladorak to decide how Lillith knows Eliza the actress Kindred before having the character respond IC.

[Daishain]

Karl waves the others off, "Do be careful, I don't think anyone will make another move tonight, its too soon. Its tomorrow that things get dangerous. But who knows, someone may jump the gun."

He texts Gabriel, "I and others in coterie are a little beat up, but otherwise fine. Prince Gorman and Schultz are dusted, and most of their ghouls have been dealt with as well, many of them at the Prince's hand. He was even crazier than we thought. Cleanup work at my direction is ongoing at Gorman's mansion, if you could keep an eye on that through the day I would appreciate it. I'll join you as soon as I can. Watch your back, we're in a good position, but the vultures will be looking for their chance."

Karl will clean up a bit, don fresh clothing, and then check into a mid level hotel for the day, using tape to seal the curtains shut and making sure the do not disturb sign is up on the door.

[Erulasto]

Aisling sat in the back seat of the Porsche where she could have a bit of space, cramped though it might have been. But at least it gave her a bit of proverbial elbow room for her Beast; the agitation was washing off her in waves as she worked to keep it leashed at least long enough to find this Zach.

”I do not want to alarm him.” Aisling said carefully. ”Not until I have my claws at his throat, at least. We do not have the time for me to hunt him, and giving him time to flee is folly.”

[Ladorak]

Spoiler: OOC: Eliza

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In a better world it would have been Eliza that embraced Lilith, if that had happened Lilith's life would have been infinitely happier. Eliza was 'courting' Lilith with a view to the embrace when Lilith's actual sire swooped in to 'steal' her. Eliza was instrumental in getting Lilith recognized by kindred society, preventing her sire murdering her. Since Lilith gained her freedom Eliza has been her closest ally. Eliza works as an agent for Lilith's art, Lilith acts as information broker to Eliza. Lilith envies her considerably, but is also utterly dedicated to her, fully aware of the debt she owes. Lilith suspects feelings are not quite as strong on Eliza's end, but their working relationship is ironclad

'I don't know exactly what you two can do yet,' says Lilith, shrugging slightly as she tried to work out the best way to carry her concealed machete 'And I suppose it's the same for you. So while we have a quiet moment... I can wander about in there and no one will remember me, but cameras I can't do anything about. The only way I can get you through a door is by tearing it off it's hinges. Zach's normally sloppy but if there's any night he'll have his s*** locked down it'll be tonight
'So unless you two lovely ladies have powers that'll trivialise this, I suggest I go first, check for guards and cameras, if it's all clear we kick in the door. I don't think knocking would accomplish much apart from warning him we're coming.'

[Thundercracker]

Anna Wu

“Depends on whether Aisling can wait that long,” Anna said.

[Bennosuke]

"Who is this?" the woman on the other end of Anna's phone snarls, then there is s a sudden and not subtle shift in the woman's demeanor. In an almost casual and friendly manner Eliza says, "My apologies. My name is Eliza, and I am a friend of Lillith's. I have known her a very very long time, and she trusts me to look out for her best interests. She just frightened me with the news she told me... and the news that you have told me. Is she still available?"

Spoiler: OOC

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I apologize for my end of this scene starting to drag already. Can we come to a conclusion as to how you guys are going to jump this Neonate so that we can move things along???

[Thundercracker]

Anna

Anna unmuted the phone.
“My name is Anna. Yes, she’s right here,” Anna said, “I’m putting you on speaker. we’re looking for a place to hole up for the day. I’m a bit concerned about retaliation from the Gorman’s allies, but not too much. Most of them will be hiding out or trying to contact him, or trying to save their own skins, rather than trying to take revenge for a dead Prince. Still, can’t be too careful.”

Spoiler

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Lilith is going to sneak in and make sure the coast is clear, then we’re going to go and kick down the front door.