On the Sheriff's trail - part 1
Now the adventure really takes off.
On the following night our coterie - C wearing a huntsmans outfit from the 1610's - was headed to Prince Qadir's lodgings, when Dom proved to be too popular for his own good. He recieved orders from the Seneschal, Silver (who has an apparent affection for Phantom of the Opera) to investigate a park in the Queens area, in hopes of discovering leads in the "missing Scourge and Sheriff" -mystery. On the way there, however, some Anarch bikers delivered their leader's invitation to meet her in a Farmaceutical company's headquarters in Staten Island. Chiara commented somewhere along the lines of "So we're reduced to picking up everyone's dry cleaning now, è?" but Dom made it the group's priority to head towards Queens, snapping at her protegé with a "Oh shut up!" from between his teeth.
The park seems quiet and empty, but the heroes discover the Scourge's van, stripped of pretty much everything of value. As they try to proceed further into the park, another biker - human this time - interrupts them, only to be exploded off his bike and toasted. The human turns out to be a hunter, and although only the Toreador himself knows this, he was after Hans.
Quick to move on, the team saw movement under a bridge, where some young thin-bloods took refuge. But on the minute anyone tried to act, a disembodied voice echoed amongst the trees, saying "Do not touch them, for they are mine." Upon inquiry as to whom the voice belonged to, a man appears from the dust itself. A man with a cane and an Eastern-European accent. He exclaims the area to be his territory, as the thin-bloods flee behind him. The man looks at Dom with recognition; "Ah, it's you, I see." It becomes apparent that this is a Tzimisce, as he himself disappears, leaving behind three guardian wolves. Chiara searches her bag for her Derringer, and shoots one of the wolves straight through the brain, while C intimidates the two remaining creatures into begrudging submission by simply growling at them menacingly. Dom, Hans and Walter take turns in inflicting damage to the lupes, until one surges forwards, attacking Dom. The Caitiff tries to stab and slice the wolve's neck with a Ka-bar, but surprisingly enough it's his little Necromancer ward who finishes the furry beast off. When Walter shoots the last one, an even larger wolf appears further into the park, and the coterie decides to take their leave. Fortunately, C has been rummaging through a pile of clothes under the bridge, finding a pocket watch with the Tremere symbol on it, and a pair of glasses.
To save time, the team splits up, C and Walter towards the Chantry to find out about the watch's origins (Off-game we joked about it probably just being a last year's company christmas gift - the year before that the Tremere got a nice fountain pen!), and the Scourge, Toreador and brat Necromancer make haste to meet with Mrs H, the Anarch leader. The latter three were greeted with little enthusiasm by anarch bikers slouching around office cubicles, pointing the guests to an office with the plaque "CEO". Mrs H tells them to take a seat, and makes Dom a proposition that begins with a depiction of how the Camarilla is corrupt and the Anarch's reign would begin an era of equality where status is earned. At this point Chiara excuses herself in an icy manner and storms off. Dom makes a sullen remark "Remember Lenin's Russia a while back?" To which Mrs H merely smiles that they had the right idea, but the execution was poor. She continues by offering to make Dom the wealthiest man in New York in exchange for his help in making her the city's ruler. Dom says he'll keep H:s offer in mind, and the three vampires leave the building.
Meanwhile C and Walter have consulted with the Tremere's Mentor about the pocket watch, and it is soon found that it is, in fact, a device which indicates the presence of Thin-bloods. Reunited in Dom's Dodge Charger once more, Dom does nothing short of shoving the watch in Chiara's mouth after her whinily insisting she be handed the item immediately. A gutted comment of a certain protector liking to make young girls choke in things results, but before the Caitiff can retort from his indignation, Chiara frowns and says she can't seem to contact the watch's owner. This could only mean that they are either still alive or have met their final death through diablerization.
The following stop is at the Prince's haven. With a failed courage check against elevators, Walter stays in the lobby for a light snack, while the others proceed to take a look around. Two of the Seneschal's bodyguards are at the door, but upon seeing Hans and the Scourge, our group is let in at once, with only the warning of "Just don't touch anything" after which C asks "Don't what?" , making the bodyguards repeat "...touch anything", which C takes as a permission to, indeed, touch anything at all. They're confronted by the signs of a fight, the claw-slashed body of the Prince's butler, and two different piles of ash in the balcony, as well as a pile of clothes that smell like a sewer.
While Hans suddenly discovers a crumpled-up flyer from a night club called "The Crux", Dom climbs down the fire escape ladder, finding a shredded piece of the Prince's silk trousers. (Off-game jokes about the fabric being purple and us probably finding black, curly hairs and high heels soon after. Prince, you know?) Chiara seeks to summon the Butler's soul, and manages to extract at least some information from him. It would appear that it was just the Butler and Qadir, when the latter was killed by an assassin. Chiara persuades the bodyguards to give her the surveillance tapes from the elevator, Dom gets the corresponding tapes from the cameras in the lobby, and the vampire fivesome heads off to the Caitiff's apartment to watch them. The Sheriff is seen entering and leaving the building on the following night, but the only one to go to the top floor on the night of the event is a person in a dark hoodie. Suddenly C makes Dom stop the tape. She looks at the still picture quizzically, and finally says "He looks cramped." The others are lost for a while, but then the realisation hits them. The elevator could be full of people. Invisible people.
On the following night our coterie - C wearing a huntsmans outfit from the 1610's - was headed to Prince Qadir's lodgings, when Dom proved to be too popular for his own good. He recieved orders from the Seneschal, Silver (who has an apparent affection for Phantom of the Opera) to investigate a park in the Queens area, in hopes of discovering leads in the "missing Scourge and Sheriff" -mystery. On the way there, however, some Anarch bikers delivered their leader's invitation to meet her in a Farmaceutical company's headquarters in Staten Island. Chiara commented somewhere along the lines of "So we're reduced to picking up everyone's dry cleaning now, è?" but Dom made it the group's priority to head towards Queens, snapping at her protegé with a "Oh shut up!" from between his teeth.
The park seems quiet and empty, but the heroes discover the Scourge's van, stripped of pretty much everything of value. As they try to proceed further into the park, another biker - human this time - interrupts them, only to be exploded off his bike and toasted. The human turns out to be a hunter, and although only the Toreador himself knows this, he was after Hans.
Quick to move on, the team saw movement under a bridge, where some young thin-bloods took refuge. But on the minute anyone tried to act, a disembodied voice echoed amongst the trees, saying "Do not touch them, for they are mine." Upon inquiry as to whom the voice belonged to, a man appears from the dust itself. A man with a cane and an Eastern-European accent. He exclaims the area to be his territory, as the thin-bloods flee behind him. The man looks at Dom with recognition; "Ah, it's you, I see." It becomes apparent that this is a Tzimisce, as he himself disappears, leaving behind three guardian wolves. Chiara searches her bag for her Derringer, and shoots one of the wolves straight through the brain, while C intimidates the two remaining creatures into begrudging submission by simply growling at them menacingly. Dom, Hans and Walter take turns in inflicting damage to the lupes, until one surges forwards, attacking Dom. The Caitiff tries to stab and slice the wolve's neck with a Ka-bar, but surprisingly enough it's his little Necromancer ward who finishes the furry beast off. When Walter shoots the last one, an even larger wolf appears further into the park, and the coterie decides to take their leave. Fortunately, C has been rummaging through a pile of clothes under the bridge, finding a pocket watch with the Tremere symbol on it, and a pair of glasses.
To save time, the team splits up, C and Walter towards the Chantry to find out about the watch's origins (Off-game we joked about it probably just being a last year's company christmas gift - the year before that the Tremere got a nice fountain pen!), and the Scourge, Toreador and brat Necromancer make haste to meet with Mrs H, the Anarch leader. The latter three were greeted with little enthusiasm by anarch bikers slouching around office cubicles, pointing the guests to an office with the plaque "CEO". Mrs H tells them to take a seat, and makes Dom a proposition that begins with a depiction of how the Camarilla is corrupt and the Anarch's reign would begin an era of equality where status is earned. At this point Chiara excuses herself in an icy manner and storms off. Dom makes a sullen remark "Remember Lenin's Russia a while back?" To which Mrs H merely smiles that they had the right idea, but the execution was poor. She continues by offering to make Dom the wealthiest man in New York in exchange for his help in making her the city's ruler. Dom says he'll keep H:s offer in mind, and the three vampires leave the building.
Meanwhile C and Walter have consulted with the Tremere's Mentor about the pocket watch, and it is soon found that it is, in fact, a device which indicates the presence of Thin-bloods. Reunited in Dom's Dodge Charger once more, Dom does nothing short of shoving the watch in Chiara's mouth after her whinily insisting she be handed the item immediately. A gutted comment of a certain protector liking to make young girls choke in things results, but before the Caitiff can retort from his indignation, Chiara frowns and says she can't seem to contact the watch's owner. This could only mean that they are either still alive or have met their final death through diablerization.
The following stop is at the Prince's haven. With a failed courage check against elevators, Walter stays in the lobby for a light snack, while the others proceed to take a look around. Two of the Seneschal's bodyguards are at the door, but upon seeing Hans and the Scourge, our group is let in at once, with only the warning of "Just don't touch anything" after which C asks "Don't what?" , making the bodyguards repeat "...touch anything", which C takes as a permission to, indeed, touch anything at all. They're confronted by the signs of a fight, the claw-slashed body of the Prince's butler, and two different piles of ash in the balcony, as well as a pile of clothes that smell like a sewer.
While Hans suddenly discovers a crumpled-up flyer from a night club called "The Crux", Dom climbs down the fire escape ladder, finding a shredded piece of the Prince's silk trousers. (Off-game jokes about the fabric being purple and us probably finding black, curly hairs and high heels soon after. Prince, you know?) Chiara seeks to summon the Butler's soul, and manages to extract at least some information from him. It would appear that it was just the Butler and Qadir, when the latter was killed by an assassin. Chiara persuades the bodyguards to give her the surveillance tapes from the elevator, Dom gets the corresponding tapes from the cameras in the lobby, and the vampire fivesome heads off to the Caitiff's apartment to watch them. The Sheriff is seen entering and leaving the building on the following night, but the only one to go to the top floor on the night of the event is a person in a dark hoodie. Suddenly C makes Dom stop the tape. She looks at the still picture quizzically, and finally says "He looks cramped." The others are lost for a while, but then the realisation hits them. The elevator could be full of people. Invisible people.