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

[Daishain]

Karl yells out, "Firewall! Now!" As the two brujah speed towards where the rest of the fuel and explosives waited. He fires a burst at Hector's hips and upper legs, hoping to cripple the kindred's mobility

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Dex+firearms+burst (6d10)[34]
ten again (6d10)[34]
Oops, reroll in OOC thread

[Bennosuke]

Before anyone else could respond, Karl begins firing. The machinegun bucks and roars in the Mekhet's ears, kicking out a stream of bullets. He aims first at Hector, the first one out of the building. Shells patter around the charging man wreathed in flames, a few maybe hitting home, but not slowing the undead horror.

Hector and the others rush across the street, heedless of the hail of gunfire coming from the gas station.

Anna grits her teeth and sprays gunfire at the two Bruja who had come rushing out of the tavern's front door. She finds Hacha charging straight towards her, and tears the mad vampire apart in a hail of gunfire. It's as if the bullets literally tear the running figure into pieces, severing an arm and then shattering his skull. Hacha combusts into a crumbling pile of flaming ash that scatters across the black highway.

Anna continues firing and puts a second cluster of bullets into the third Kindred. Her gunfire is joined by a stream of gunfire from several of the Ghouls and before the third vampire can even reach the road, it too is turned to ash.

But by then Hector is almost across the street. Evan the additional gunfire from the Ghouls and Nova is not enough to stop the senior Bruja and his rage, as he rushes straight for Karl.

(OOC: Back to the top of the initiative order. Karl will get to attack first, then it will be Hector)

[Thundercracker]

Anna Wu

Anna fueled her actions with vitae and swiveled as quickly as she could to change her line of attack to Hector, tracking his movement with her rifle’s sight and hoping to stop him before he could reach Karl. She squeezed the trigger as the sight crossed Hector’s form...

Spoiler

Show

1bp celerity to move to top of initiative order:
3 dex 1 firearms 2 medium burst : (6d10)[9][9][3][10][1][5](37)
10 again: (6d10)[2][5][5][1][5][10](28)

[Daishain]

Frustrated that Nova's group failed to light the firebreak supposed to keep this exact thing from happening, Karl fires again, at the chest this time.

If the maddened monster is still coming his way, the mekhet will retreat, moving in a blur away from Hector.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Mmkay, if Hector's still up after Anna and Karl's attack, using 1 bp to activate Celerity and quickly move away from the charging kindred.
Another attack, medium burst again (6d10)[5][4][1][10][10][1](31)
ten again (6d10)[9][9][2][5][6][1](32)

[Bennosuke]

Anna turns, aims, and fires with reflexes faster than humanly possible. The hail of bullets take Hector from the side, not knocking him over but pushing him sideways like a hurricane wind. Rounds punch cherry red holes of fire in the burning vampire, and before he can reach Karl is body seems to ripple then fully combust. Hector goes up in flames, the smell of roasting meat finally taking over the stench of burning gasoline, the heat from the living torch coming off in waves.

But still he keeps moving forward, each step slow like walking in wet sand. Hands stretched out, grasping for Karl. Karl doesn't even need to move out of the way. From just a few yards away, the Mekhet holds down the trigger and hoses the Bruja with gunfire. Seconds later Hector is crumbling into a large heap of burning ash and bone.

(OOC: Damn Resiliance makes for some bad mother truckers. Anna is down to 8BP, resolves Tempted and gains a beat. Combat is over. Will let you react)

[Daishain]

Karl slumps a bit in relief as the fiery monster finally goes down. He looks to the burning bar, regretting for a moment not having had the chance to take some of the gang members alive for leverage. And perhaps getting that boy out as well. But his hands had been tied, no point in dwelling on it.

He looks to make sure Anna and Aisling are all right before turning to Nova, "Congratulations sheriff, the first serious violators on your watch have been dealt with, in rather spectacular fashion." He thinks to himself, 'all while barely lifting a finger or contributing to the planning, but I'm sure she'll take full credit anyways.'

[Thundercracker]

Anna Wu

Anna waiting for a moment for anyone else to come out of the burning house, then turned to Aisling.
“Cover me,” she said, then turned to the ghouls, “everyone else fan out to the sides and back, stay back far enough you won’t get an axe to the face, and shoot anything that moves.”

Anna went to grab the cell phones from the fallen Brujah who charged them from the front door.

[Bennosuke]

Tension hangs heavy in the air as the group watch for anyone else to escape the building. But there is nothing more to see or hear from The Devil's Hole but the growing tongues of fire now sprouting out of every window and climbing up the walls to lap at the flat roof.

Wordlessly, Nova slips away from the group to go into the gas station.

Without the Sheriff, the Ghouls immediately fall in line with Anna's orders, fanning out with guns ready.

Every step Anna takes closer to the building forces the Beast to protest, and Anna finds that her jaw is tensed to the point of hurting. The heat coming off of the building makes Anna's skin feel like dry paper waiting to catch fire, and the smell of smoke and burned flesh stings at the Mekhet's eyes and nose and throat. The process of retrieving the cellphones, is wholly unpleasant, and in every instance the devices are nothing more than molten plastic and glass.

[Thundercracker]

Anna cursed to herself at the lost opportunity the cell phones would have provided. At least the Brujah and all the gang members were dead...

She retreated from the building to get away from the fire, watched for another minute or two, and then signaled to the others to fall back to the gas station and regroup with Karl, Nova, and Aisling.

[Daishain]

Karl wonders briefly what Nova is up to, then when the ghouls follow Anna's direction in her absence he realizes it presents an opportunity.

"All right, they're dead, we need to clean up and get out of here. I estimate we have five minutes before the first sirens arrive, I suggest we be gone in three. If you brought it here, take it away with you. Yes, that includes the cigarrete butts if you smoked any. If you're not wearing gloves, don't touch anything we can't take with us. Hurry it up, there's a limit to how much evidence can get suppressed, so lets minimize our footprint here."

[Bennosuke]

Gunshots can be heard coming from the gas station mini market. Nova comes marching out and perhaps unaware of, or perhaps ignoring Karl's comments orders, "Alright everyone, let's get moving! Showed those bastards. Let's get out of here before the Po get here."

The ghouls begin piling into the old beat up van, hooting and cheering as they push into the vehicle.

But Aisling comes running up to Anna and Karl. A cold look in her eyes, she says, "I'm going with you guys. **** that woman. Let's go home!"

[Daishain]

Karl looked to the gas station, it sounded like she just killed the clerk. But why? Nova was erratic to say the least, but she had to know the death of an innocent bystander here would only make the political fallout worse. He had a bad feeling about this...

To Aisling he states, "Yeah, no kidding, but give me just a second, I need to check something." Karl moves quickly into the gas station, wanting to see for himself what Nova was leaving the police to find.

[Thundercracker]

“Why, what did she do?” Anna asked Aisling.

[Bennosuke]

Nova's van peels out of the gas station as Karl heads back to the gas station shop. He can smell smoke coming from inside as he reaches the swinging glass door, but it is hard to see in through the tinted window and what appears to be mounting smoke. Karl can't see the clerk anywhere inside, but he has to imagine that the growing smoke cloud, which was absolutely suffocating (even for... or maybe especially for a vampire) would have woken him if he were still alive.

(OOC: Karl can try to enter which will require another Frenzy check at +2)

Aisling shrugs but says flatly, "She's just an *******. Did you guys do something to her to piss her off? It seemed like she was intentionally trying to be... well an *******, to use modern English."

[Thundercracker]

Anna

“We...may have been working with someone raided her compound and took someone she was hiding there,” Anna said, “that was before you woke up.”

“A bunch of ghouls may have died in the process and she might blame us for the whole thing,” Anna added.

[Daishain]

Karl hesitates, but only for a moment, then runs inside, quickly looking around to see exactly what Nova had done. He does not stay long, soon rushing back out, and joining the others as they make for the car.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Rolled 2 successes in ooc thread

[Bennosuke]

Anna's statement causes a wicked feral grin to spread across Aisling's face. "So it is personal," she purrs, "I guess in a way that's better than her just being a stone cold monster." The grin fades from the Gangrel's face, replaced by deadly seriousness. "So, what are we going to do about it?" she asks, her hands opening and closing tightly, causing Anna to recall the calls that had Aisling had sprouted out of her own fingers.

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

(OOC: Karl gains the tempted condition)

Karl rushes into the store, struck immediately by the heavy blanket of smoke that slashes at his eyes and forces its way down his throat. It's hot inside, too hot. Karl's skin feels like dried parchment ready to go up in flames, and it crawls as if covered in a million biting ants.

Nova has somehow set fire to the aisles holding potato chips and candy bars. The smell of gasoline makes Karl think she must have doused parts of the convenience store while she was inside. The growing tongues of fire dance in the fluorescent store light as they reach for the ceiling. Karl finds the store clerk shot once through the head. All the security cameras that he had taken stock of have been destroyed as well, perhaps by gunfire, though Karl can't be sure. There's no sign of any murder weapon or other evidence that Nova was creating a set up, but everything inside Karl is begging him to leave the store!

[Daishain]

After quickly assessing things, Karl rushes back out of the store. He still didn't like this, but even if the place wasn't on fire, its not like he had time to investigate further.

As soon as he's out, he calls, "To the car, quickly. We need to disappear."

[Bennosuke]

The three race away from the gas station, down the long empty strip of freeway toward the car. As they move down the grassy vacant field that runs along the road, the sound of sirens and the flashing red lights of maybe an ambulance or a fire truck begin to grow close, growing in size and proximity along the horizon of the night's sky.

(OOC: Not to delay things, but I need to know if the group is going to hide or keep going)

[Daishain]

Karl reaches out to his companions, drawing them both into the shadows with him. "Stay close, but keep moving to the car, we can't let these brave first responders see us."

[Bennosuke]

Secreted away from sight by Kar'ls blood magic, the three vampires remain out of sight as they rush back to their car. Unmolested in their retreat, the coterie piles into the vehicle and drives back to Seacliff, winding their way up through the hills back into San Francisco. Unless the group has other plans, they are able to return to their haven with a little over an hour before sunrise. By now there are few Kine driving, and even fewer walking the streets.

(OOC: Can move on to the next night, unless anyone cares to do anything, or the players want to plan or react to the night's events)

[Daishain]

Karl is seething on the drive back, "Something has to change in regards to Nova. I had hoped to be able to work with her, but it seems she's determined to make that impossible. Aisling, you spent more time in her presence than the rest of us. Did she say anything in particular regarding her motivations?"

Given his hunger after the night's exertions, Karl would keep an eye out for an easy feeding opportunity on the way back to the haven. It was unlikely at this time of night, but one never knew for sure, and it would be better than waking the next night ravenous...

[Thundercracker]

Anna

Once in the car, Anna reflected on the events. She pulled out her phone and looked up the contact for Gunner. He hadn’t been at the Devil’s hole, nor had the woman who’d been the leader the last time. Were they still alive?

She typed out a message: “wtf did you guys do? The new prince is pissed.”

She debated a moment before hitting send. If any other Kindred found it, she could always say she was trying to draw them out and finish the job. It wasn’t completely untrue either, best to keep options open, if they were there. Before she could think on it further, she sent the text and kept her hand on her phone in case a reply came in.

Spoiler

Show

at least I think it was gunner who wasn’t there.. let me know if I got the name wrong

[Bennosuke]

Karl is seething on the drive back, "Something has to change in regards to Nova. I had hoped to be able to work with her, but it seems she's determined to make that impossible. Aisling, you spent more time in her presence than the rest of us. Did she say anything in particular regarding her motivations?"

In the backseat, Aisling shrugs. Karl doesn't need any light in the car to see the gesture. "Not really," she says flatly, "she pretty much ignored me the entire time. I was mostly trying to figure out what was going on and why she was being such a... well a jerk."

She typed out a message: “wtf did you guys do? The new prince is pissed.”

As Karl drives, there really isn't anyone out of the road for an "easy feeding". Even other cars are few and far between, except on the 101, the main freeway going between Daly City and San Francisco.

She debated a moment before hitting send. If any other Kindred found it, she could always say she was trying to draw them out and finish the job. It wasn’t completely untrue either, best to keep options open, if they were there. Before she could think on it further, she sent the text and kept her hand on her phone in case a reply came in.

(OOC: That is correct regarding his name)

The message to Gunner goes through. But no matter how long Anna waits, the 'delivered' message never changes over to 'read'. Maybe he was ignoring her, or maybe he was asleep... though it was still a little early to be taken by the day torpor.

[Daishain]

Karl shakes his head, "All right then, we'll need to stay on our toes."

"We left a huge mess back there. There's no was we could have hid all of the evidence, but she managed to make it so we couldn't even take the shells with us. If just one of those idiot ghouls left fingerprints on them and is also in the criminal database, its going to be tough to cover this up. Chances are if there is trouble, Nova will attempt to blame it on us. We had best speak with the Prince before then, make sure the truth is the first version of events he hears."

He keeps driving on towards the Haven.

[Thundercracker]

Anna Wu

"I didn't even think about that," Anna said, "hopefully they just blame it on gang warfare, with all the cars and motorcycles in the parking lot."

[Bennosuke]

Piping up from the backseat Aisling says, "He's the Prince, right? And at top Invictus, right? I though you guys had a whole network for maintaining the Masquerade. Doesn't Prince D'Agostino have connections he can pull or something?" She sounds truly surprised by Anna and Karl's concern and mutters under her breath, "The Witches make it sound like you guys are some super connected conspiracy network or something."

[Daishain]

"That's true, but there are limits. We can silence a few people, make some evidence disappear easily enough, but the bigger the case, the harder it is to keep quiet. In the next 24 hours the local police will call in Federal agents. For something this big, they'll quickly assemble a team of several dozen people sifting through and analyzing the evidence left behind, they're all encouraged and trained to preserve evidence and be suspicious if it disappears, and they'll be led by some of the best investigative minds in the entire world."

Karl shakes his head, "Its not impossible to cover this up in spite of that, but leaving easy evidence behind like that leads to it being an absolutely huge hassle."

[Bennosuke]

"So are we calling the Prince now?" Aisling says pulling out her borrowed phone. She holds it out like a dead rat... except Aisling probably liked dead rats, and the implication is of course that she would prefer not to be the bearer of bad news.

[Daishain]

Karl sighs and nods, hitting the autodial for the Prince's phone.