Vampire: Graves in the Desert Conclusion

Monday was the conclusion of our Vampire: The Requiem story. It was...pretty grim.

Last time, recall, Delphine, her father Richard, her girlfriend Rachel, Mordecai, and Myra were in the room at Binion's (Heath was in his office arranging things). Rachel, having just had the truth about vampires revealed to her and not quite believing it, stormed out. Delphine followed her...and saw her grandfather appear from around the corner.

She lunged forward, grabbed Rachel and shoved her behind her, and faced her grandfather...but the man vanished like smoke. Delphine turned around and saw Rachel was gone. She used Auspex to view the event from a different perspective, and realized that the "grandfather" she'd seen had been an illusion...but that the real one had sand on his arms.

Terrified, she grabbed the others and told them they needed to head to the desert again. Heath agreed (having backed up his files and prepared the casino for burning).

They drove out to the desert, and en route Richard told them a little more about what they were up against. He spoke of shadowy beings called Strix, spirits that hated the Kindred and could possess their bodies...as well as those of living people. He said that he wasn't sure how to kill them, other than burn them. Mordecai asked what exactly the plan was, and Heath said they were going to drop off Richard and Delphine and get the hell away. This wasn't their fight.

They arrived at the gravesite. The bodies they'd extracted had been dug up - plus four more, two adults and two children. Mordecai looked through the man's body, and found a wallet and an ID - his name was Edward Paternak, and he was from Orangeburg, NY - just as Mordecai was. He tried to remind the man's face, but couldn't, though it looked strangely similar to his. He noted that all four people - man, woman, two children - had been shot, and they'd been here for years.

Delphine looked at the area using Auspex, and saw her grandfather standing there, forcing Rachel to dig. Her hands were ruined and bleeding. And then he grabbed the shovel away from her and told her to run, and she did, away into the desert.

Just then, the characters saw movement at the SUV - a slight, Asian vampire. Mo Fuji. She opened the back of the SUV and lit the Molotov cocktails, and tossed one in.

Delphine ran over to her, while Heath shot at her. Mordecai disappeared with Obfuscate and started creeping up. Delphine reached Mo and grappled with her, eventually overpowering her and throwing her into the fire. The SUV burned and Mo crumbled to nothing (and Delphine lost Humanity).

And then a flow of smoke, and grandfather appeared, over near Myra. He smacked her in the head, dropping her into torpor (remember, she was pretty badly dinged up). Heath ran. Mordecai snuck over, invisibly, but grandfather apparently saw through it and snarled. Richard engaged him, and Delphine screamed for Rachel. Grandfather vanished, having beat Richard into torpor as well.

Heath, meanwhile, made it to the highway and found Rachel sitting there. He tried to comfort her, but Nosferatu aren't the best at that. A car pulled up, and Heath intended to steal it, but the driver turned out to be Roberto. Hearing that Myra was in danger, he ran to get her, taking the keys. Rachel, hearing Delphine was there, followed. Heath, figuring "fuck it," hot-wired the car and drove off, heading back to Vegas.

Back at the gravesite, Mordecai picked up Myra, probably figuring to get her out of the area, but Roberto found them and saw through the Obfuscate (probably via blood sympathy on Myra). Delphine and Rachel found each other, and Delphine, desperate, Embraced her.

Now stuck in the desert with two vampires in torpor, one with very little blood, and the sun rising soon, they decided to bury themselves in the graves and try and get home the next night.

Heath arrived in Vegas to find Binion's in flames. His cell phone rang - Delphine?

"Hello, Heath," said grandfather. "I want you to do something."

"What?" said Heath.

"Take credit for this," he said. "For these graves in the desert. Don't mention me to anyone. I was never here."

Heath agreed, and hung up.

Meanwhile, in the desert, grandfather, the Strix, sat on the fresh graves holding his son and grandaughter (also his childe, grandchilde, and great-grandchile). "What to do," he said, swirling the sand, "what to do."

Fin.

And the letter:

Dearest Bartholomew,

Two years had passed since the Week of Roses and the OK Corral Tournament, and Kindred society was normalizing. Clans resurfaced, the natural stagnation of the Kindred coming to the fore. And yet, something had changed, something that none of us truly understood.

It was November 2008 when Lori and Ben Dennis died in the parking lot of the Downtown Grand. Suspicion initially fell on Mordecai Pasternak, the Kindred owner and proprietor of the nearby Mob Museum, but the evidence and the support of Heath Newman shifted it. The deaths were not a special concern - people die in Vegas frequently - but the couple's 4-month-old son vanished, and that whipped the city into a frenzy. Tourists with children stopped going out at night, and stopped spending money, and no one, Kindred or mortal, would stand for that.

The story of that baby's disappearance is prosaic. The discoveries that it led to, however, were of a more personal nature than many of the tales I've recounted. And yet, as I watched a piece of Old Vegas burn some time later, I remember thinking that if I could see what I'd seen, know what I knew, and still feel some stirring of grief for those lost, then perhaps I would always be at least somewhat human.

It began, as I said, with the disappearance of a baby. On the night of November 21st, 2008, Martin Rossini's Sheriff, Thomas Pilate, entered Binion's, and sat down for a game of poker...

...Binion's burned on November 24, 2008. Twenty-six people died in that fire, and many more were injured. Heath Newman withdrew from his position as a Harpy thereafter, retiring to his other casino and firing the Kindred he had on staff. Rumor has it he intended to pursue his studies as one of the Ordo Dracul, and such had been his ambition for a long time.

I have heard, however, that he made a trek to the desert, to a lonely place where the sands hold mournful secrets, and when he went to the desert, he had four other Kindred with him. He returned alone. What did he bury out there in the sand? What do the graves in the desert hold? What stories untold, ambitions forever unfulfilled?

We make the mistake, Bartholomew, of believing ourselves immortal just because we do not die. But we do not have the time that we think we do, and in that respect, if no other, we are still quite human.

Yours as always,
-M"

Vampire: The Penultimate

Last night was Vampire. So, here we go!

Last time, Mordecai, Heath, and Delphine found themselves at the door to the suite, looking in on Myra in a blood-stupor next to the body of a security guard. Heath considered his options; killing isn't forbidden, but he knew that since it was at his place, he'd be held responsible for any Masquerade breaches. He was contemplating what to do when Morgan, his head of security, told him about another situation.

In another room, they'd found a butchered body. The victim was the dude Myra had fed on earlier in the evening. Heath told Morgan to bring the big SUV around and load up shovels and bags and so on, and made a somewhat flippant comment about paying Morgan is bonus. Morgan walked off, a little aghast, and Heath felt his Beast rise (he had a breaking point, but didn't lose Humanity).

Delphine went down the hall to put the blood they'd taken into storage. In the cool, she saw the silhouette of an owl. This chilled her - she knew owls to be omens of death.

He went back to the room and questioned Myra. She said she hadn't killed the other guy; he'd been alive and happy when she left. The characters helped clean up the bodies and headed out to the desert. Mordecai, meanwhile, put a call in to his sire, Thomas Pilate. He told him about the incident with Myra's sire, and Pilate noted that. He didn't, however, have any idea how to find a Night Doctor - that might be a better question for Annabelle Fry. Mordecai put a call in to her, too. He also got a call from the museum - a reporter had stopped by. Apparently the baby, Ben, had vanished from foster care. The characters were shocked and a bit appalled, but they had other fish to fry in the short term.

Out in the desert, they started digging. Heath, going on autopilot, had taken them a spot in the desert he knew. Myra uncovered the body of a young boy and froze; they looked, but didn't feel like digging further. They dumped the bodies (well, the body and the bags with the bits) into the hole, and when they turned to go back to the car, they saw a woman leaning on it - Dawn Waiting Snake, the most respected and powerful Crone in the area.

Dawn asked Heath why he didn't come out here - she figured that would be an area of interest. He said he'd been busy with city stuff; she said he'd always been a shitty Dragon anyway. She recognized Delphine and asked about her family, saying they were a strange lot. And she recognized Mordecai - "family resemblance?" she said.

Dawn walked off, and they started to head back. As they did, Delphine heard an owl call, and heard it say "Rachel." She told Heath to drop her at home so she could be with Rachel. The others went to the casino. Annabelle called Mordecai back and listened to his problem. She said she'd think about it. Heath went to his office and started doing business things.

Myra activated blood sympathy to see if she could find her sire. She did - he was still in the hotel. He claimed he hadn't been there long, but had to find her and see her. They wound up "playing" a bit, and Myra lost control a bit and took some blood from him (and regained Willpower through her Sadist Dirge).

Next night, everyone woke up. Delphine texted Rachel and heard her phone go off in the apartment. Freaked out for a minute that something might have happened, she grabbed the phone and headed to the coffee bar where Rachel was just getting off work.

Heath got up, still somewhat dazed and pensive, and took a call from Morgan - there was a vampire ("looks like one of your type of people, sir") looking for the poker game. The vampire introduced himself as Richard...Delphine's father (both her biological father and her sire).

Mordecai did some tours at the museum, and then went to a casino to take a meeting with the fellow who had supposedly worked on the "mob vault." The man introduced himself as "Charlie," and asked Mordecai some questions about himself and his origins. He wasn't willing to provide much detail about the vault, but did ask what was in it for him if he showed Mordecai (after all, it's a mob vault). Mordecai made some vague references to have resources, but Charlie figured that meant he didn't have much in the way of money. He said he'd think about it.

Delphine told Rachel that they'd take the night and have a date. Rachel said a friend of hers was an assistant in a new magic show that was opening up. Meanwhile, Mordecai contacted a friend who got him show tickets and asked what he had - he felt like seeing a show to take his mind off things. By curious coincidence, his friend had a ticket to a new magic act.

Heath, meanwhile, talked with Richard and verified via birth and Embrace dates (which Heath knew) that he was who he said he was. He told Heath he was trying to find Delphine, and said that time was a factor - she was in danger.

Meanwhile, at the show, the magician was making use of mirrors and illusions. At the end, he called Rachel up on stage, made her "disappear" using a series of mirrors, and then smashed them.

Delphine heard a voice from behind her, telling her not to turn around. She did anyway...and came face to face with her grandfather (also her grandsire). But his eyes were yellow and sickly. She used Auspex and realized that he wasn't in control of himself, and he was unafraid.

"This is what you do with your gift?" he said, nodding toward the stage.

"Where is she?" asked Delphine.

"She's going to die," he said, and then vanished in a flutter of wings. Rachel reappeared, unharmed.

Delphine ran up to her, and introduced her to Mordecai. They went to get a table at a bar, and Delphine called Heath to tell him what was going on. He mentioned that her father had been to see him, and then she came to the table, and saw her father, laughing with Rachel.

Delphine, displaying all the subterfuge of a brick, introduced him as her father (the age is a stretch, but it's plausible). As they talked, Richard (her father) warned her that her grandfather was out to get them, and that they weren't save. Delphine decided to head back to Binion's.

They regrouped in the safe room, and she revealed to Rachel that she was a vampire. Richard demonstrated Celerity, just to stave off the inevitable "you're crazy" discussion, and Delphine revealed that her grandfather was dangerous. She called Maeve Blackwell for help, but the second Maeve heard "yellow eyes" and "owls," she hung up.

Rachel, furious and confused, left, saying she needed a walk.

Heath, meanwhile, was in his office. Prince Martin called him up, and told him that Maeve had spoken to him - something was going on that had her terrified, and this mystical BS wasn't really his thing. His solution to such issues was just to burn things.

Heath asked, "what's the insurance like on Binion's?"

Martin responded, "If you want to be nice, you give people time to get out. You want to be realistic, you keep it as much as surprise as possible."

Heath nodded, looking around his office. "Realistic."

Next time, the finale.

Vampire Notes

Running Vampire tonight. Need to take some notes. Players don't click.

This line's mostly filler.

Vampire: Fire, blood, and breaking points

Yay Vampire!

So, recall that last time, Myra got munched (not in the good way) by a Larva (ew), but escaped with minimal damage. The coterie piled into one of Heath's SUVs and headed back to the under-construction building, and crept in, being all sneaky-like.

They didn't get far in when the Larva attacked, tackling Myra (mostly by virtue of positioning) and pulling her to the ground, trying to bite her. Note, too, that the other three characters had Obfuscate and were therefore harder to notice.

Mordecai, thinking (or at least acting) quickly, lit up a Molotov cocktail and dropped it on the Larva. Now engulfed in flames, it ran, but collapsed into dust shortly thereafter. Myra wasn't far behind, but Mordecai pulled off his jacket and put her out...but she was very nearly dead (she had one box of damage that wasn't aggravated).

The characters helped Myra to the car, and headed back to Binion's. They knew how to help Myra - blood and time - but they also had heard that fire scars vampires permanently. Heath told Mordecai that as long as Myra was out of commission, he was going to cover her salary from Binion's (since she couldn't work).

The got back to Binion's, and Heath and Delphine decided to head to the hospital and find someone to pay off for a large quantity of blood. Mordecai stayed behind to watch over Myra, and to make some calls - he'd heard of a group called the Night Doctors, an offshoot of the Carthian Movement. He called up Dex, the Hound (who is Carthian-affiliated), and Dex asked if this was about the building that was burning. Mordecai confirmed it was, but said they'd destroyed a Larva and things got out of hand; Dex seemed to sympathize.

A bit later, there was a knock at the door. A well-dressed vampire stood there, and introduced himself as "Robert." He asked Mordecai what had happened, and Mordecai let him in to see Myra. Robert shut the door, and knelt down to Myra - and she recognized him as Roberto Aiza, her sire. She told him what had happened, and he got up, and walked back out into the office where Mordecai was waiting. Mordecai noticed he was furious, just on the edge of frenzy, and tried to head for the door. Roberto attacked.

They scuffled a bit; Roberto managed to throw him down and bite him, but Mordecai got free and escaped the room. Roberto went back into Myra's room and said he'd tracked down Mordecai, but Myra ordered him not to take revenge, and he agreed. He asked what he could do; she said to bring her blood. Moments later, he came back with one of the security guards. Myra drained him dry, and wound up losing two points of Humanity (one from the breaking point, one because, as a Ventrue, she lost her only Touchstone with that seventh dot, and now she has a month to find a new one before she gets Languid). She also, for the record, lost her Striking Looks Merit, but picked up Acute Senses (yay Sanctity of Merits!).

Meanwhile, at the hospital, Heath bribed and convinced a young orderly to steal him a bunch of blood. It took a couple of hours, but they left with a cooler.

Mordecai grabbed a lost tourist, fed on him (but did not kill him) and left him in an alley. He met up with Heath and Delphine and explained what was happening, and then they went upstairs and found Myra, blissed out and blood-drunk, with the dead guard next to her.

"Why is it that you can't seem to hold on to a coterie, Heath?" Mordecai asked.

Two sessions remain in this story.

Vampire: Chomp

Last night was Vampire. Let's get to it!

The characters split for the day last time, and woke up the following evening. Delphine resolved her Lethargic Condition, and Mordecai his Competitive. Thus unburdened, the characters decided to feed. Delphine set up her Tarot stand and cold-read someone into following her into an alley for a more "thorough" reading. Myra seduced a guy at Binion's and took him upstairs. Heath set up one of his famous poker games, and left some poor sod mostly drained (but alive). His security chief, Morgan, asked him, "hospital or morgue, sir?"

Delphine went to work, waiting tables as usual. She met another vampire sitting at a table, and approached him. He introduced himself as "Bob," and said that he'd been in Vegas before, but wanted to make sure he didn't step on any toes. He asked who claimed domain here, and Delphine told him. Then he asked after Myra, and Delphine that she came in her, too. Bob then locked eyes with her and Dominated her, telling her not to tell Myra that he'd asked about her, and dropped a $100 on the table and walked off.

Mordecai was at work, running his museum. He did some digging into a pet project of his - a rumored earthquake proof vault constructed by the mob. He got a call from Gus, the bus driver who'd tipped him to the house holding the baby a few sessions ago. Gus said that he'd met an older man who claimed to know someone who'd helped build it. His knowledge of dirty Vegas was otherwise sound, so Gus was hopeful. Mordecai told him to set up a meet.

Myra walked down to the artists' row where Mo Fuji used to sell her photos. She talked to a couple of folks, and learned that Mo had been there the night before, but then a man on a motorcycle had chased her out (probably Dex), and she'd run off. Myra followed her trail to a construction site, where she found blood.

She followed the blood inside; it was enough for her to think someone had bled out. But then something jumped on her back and bit her, ripping out a chunk of her neck. She fought it off, thinking it was Mo, but it was a man in construction worker gear, looking dead and grey. She Dominated it and asked it why it attacked her, and it rasped, "hungry." She fled.

Back at Binion's, Myra burst into Heath's office, bloodied, and told him about what had happened. Heath called and left a message for his sire, Courant, the Koagion. She rounded up Delphine and Heath called Mordecai, and on the way back to the place, Myra told them what had happened. Mordecai asked why she'd been to see the Prince, Myra told him it was none of his business and lashed out with the Seductive Beast to distract him...but they wound up just distracting each other.

En route, Heath stopped at a red light, and a man got into the car. It was Courant. He confirmed the character's suspicions that what Myra saw might be a larvae. Mordecai noted that he'd heard of Kindred actually controlling these things, and Delphine recalled lessons from her Crone schooling talking about the First Descent (the Embrace) and how some folks never made it all the way back. Courant posited that a Larva was "half an Embrace," and the characters guessed that maybe Mo had tried to Embrace someone but been interrupted.

They arrived, and Courant wished them luck. They shut off their phones (for stealthy!) and went in.

Meanwhile, back at Binion's, Morgan surveys carnage. "I know she took someone up here," he says to the other employees, "but why'd she cut him open?" He calls Heath's number, but gets not answer. "Clean it up, I guess."

The Show Must Go On: The Plot Thickens

Monday we played Vampire, and it's Thursday, and I'm just now getting around to the write-up. I'm a baaaaaaaaaaad GM.

So! Last time, the characters rescued a baby from the clutches of a vampire who'd clearly gone 'round the bend. Delphine discovered her girlfriend had been fed upon, and the hungry vampire in question was someone of her line - that'd be either her grandfather or her father. Delphine spent the day in the hospital with Rachel, while the others crashed at Binion's. They woke up that evening to discover Myra had left early.

Delphine, meanwhile, talked with Rachel's doctor. The official verdict was "looks like blood loss, but who the hell knows anymore". Delphine talked with Rachel, and failed (dramatically) a roll to keep her poker face when Rachel asked what was going on - Rachel knows that Delphine knows more than she's saying. Delphine took Rachel home, and then contacted Maeve Blackwell and asked for someone to watch the apartment. Maeve agreed, but told Delphine she owed her a favor.

Meanwhile, Mordecai decided to step out and feed. He tried to get somewhere with charm, but bombed that (seriously, there's someone in every Vampire game that just can't get it together for feeding). Finally he got frustrated, went outside, found someone in an alley and bit him. As he was walking about, he saw Myra get out of a limo. He felt another vampire's presence inside that limo, but didn't get a look at who it was. He approached Myra, and they went into Binion's to talk with Heath and figure out their next move. Delphine arrived about the same time.

They figured they needed to track down Mo, and Heath has the best way to get anything, including information: SCADS OF MONEY. He started downstairs at the casino, spreading money around, getting the word out that he was looking for Mo. It took a few hours, but word came back; a guy remembered seeing her at an abandoned building near the Downtown Grand. Heath had the guy keep looking, and sure enough, in a bit longer someone was down in a security room who could help. A guard took Heath downstairs, and he found a woman obviously in the deep throes of meth addiction; lost teeth, scratching at herself. She identified Mo, and said she'd been at a McDonald's near the highway (and also near the Downtown Grand), scaring truckers. Heath gave her money and sent her on her way, and rounded up the others.

They checked out the abandoned building. They saw flashlights inside. They went in (they can see in the dark just fine, yay Kindred Senses!) and found a couple of folks, one of whom had a camera. They were urban explorers, they said. The characters asked them some questions; neither of them had seen Mo lately, but the photographer knew her. They showed them some found-object art that Mo had done (complete with chair legs bent with strength no human could muster). Myra kicked on Majesty to get some more information, and learned that sometimes Mo turned tricks at the McDonald's up the road (a lot of truckers through there). Dazed, he snapped a picture of her. "Hope that turns out," she said.

They went up the street to the McD's, and Heath immediately got approached by a sex worker (who pushed past her instinctive distaste for him; he's a Nosferatu). He paid her off for information, and she said that she'd seen Mo last night, getting into the truck of a delivery truck. Said truck was still there, so the vampires went over. Heath used Touch of Shadow cloak it, and they checked - the driver was in it, dead, throat ripped open. They opened the bad, and found that the bread had been piled up into a kind of nest, but it was empty.

Heath figured now it was pretty much untenable to try and protect Mo, so he called Thomas Pilate and revealed what he knew. A moment later, the prince called him back. Martin revealed that he'd tried summoning Mo (fun fact: the "summon" power doesn't appear as standard issue in Vampire 2nd Edition, so we have to assume that Martin has a Devotion that allows it), but it hadn't worked. Now, that was hardly foolproof - there might just be someone physically holding her back - but Martin told Heath he needed to get this figured out. Delphine called Maeve and asked for thoughts on how to resist summoning; Delphine thought it might be possible magically, but just as possible physically. Delphine decided to knock off and head home to Rachel. Dex, the city's Hound, arrived to take the truck and the corpse away.

Myra and Heath headed for Binion's. Mordecai, meanwhile, decided to try and figure out if all this chaos from Mo was due to someone deliberately messing with Prince Martin. He decided he'd cozy up to Chloe Requi, a Mekhet and Harpy. He tried digging into who owned the limo that Myra had gotten out of earlier (to use as bargaining chips), but no luck. He found Chloe at the blackjack table at Bellaggio, and started chatting with her (using Social Maneuvering). He eventually managed to open all her Doors, and she said that if this was someone trying to weaken the prince (which was possible, but roundabout), the best suspect was...Heath Newman. After all, he'd vouched for Mo but had been unable to find her, didn't catch her when he had the chance, and he had been involved with no fewer than two different coteries over the last few years, all of whom had been involved in some weird goings on. And, one of his employees - Myra, right? - had been to see the prince that very night.

Mordecai noted all this, and won a bit of money at blackjack.

Meanwhile, Delphine had gone home. Her landlord said there was a package in the office for her, and tossed her a key. She checked...it was a vampire with a stake in his heart. She raced upstairs and checked on Rachel - she was fine, but she'd heard a thud earlier. She went down and removed the stake from the guy's heart. The vampire (a Circle of the Crone named Rod) had been watching Rachel's place on assignment from Maeve, and had only seen a blur before the stake went in.

Delphine went back upstairs, and curled up with Rachel.

The Show Must Go On, and On, and On

Last time, the characters were headed out to Henderson to try and find evidence of a missing baby. They found the neighborhood, which consisted of several cul-de-sacs (much like the development in Fright Night), but weren't sure how to proceed (Delphine, likewise, was nervous because her grandsire, also her biological grandfather, dwelt in the area). They drove around and checked for abandoned houses, and decided to use their heightened Kindred senses to check for blood. And, indeed, the first house they checked (through sheer luck), they found it - the scent of blood so overpowering that it drove Mordecai to show his fangs. Heath lashed out with the Competitive Beast and cowed him, and they headed toward the house.

Mordecai and Delphine went to the front door, and saw, through the window, that the walls had blood-smears. Heath and Myra went around back and found the back door open, and bloody footprints leading out toward the desert. Heath listened (and the player got an exceptional success and the Focused Condition) and heard footsteps - whoever it was, they weren't far away. The vampires took off, Heath using Celerity to catch up. He saw the woman - a vampire he recognized, an unaligned Gangrel name Mo Fuji, carrying a bundle. She saw Heath and looked terrified, and then threw the bundle behind her.

Heath, deciding to gamble on that bundle being the baby, jumped to catch it. Moe zipped off into the desert (Mordecai tried to catch her, but the Competitive Condition skunked him a bit).

The vampires regrouped and discovered that the child was, in fact, in the bundle and very much alive, if hungry and scared. Heath called Detective Moore and asked her what she'd like to do about this; Moore said to give her the address of the abandoned house, wait until they saw police lights, and then skedaddle. They did, and in the house, Mordecai found a burner cell phone, completely dead. Heath tossed another burner down, and they headed back to town. As they left, Heath got the nagging feeling he'd been here before.

Heath called up Pilate and told him they'd found the baby and that he had a suspect, but didn't reveal who (knowing that Pilate would probably tell Martin, Martin would probably summon Mo and then kill her). He told her makeshift coterie what he knew about Mo; she was unaligned, sold information to Heath on occasion, fancied herself an artist. Mordecai also mentioned that her name had come up in the context of "Heath has stuck his neck out for this person". He charged the burner cell they found, and discovered calls to Heath, a couple of other burners, and a house in the same neighborhood in Henderson - which Delphine recognized as her grandfather's. Reluctantly, she called the number and got an answering machine. Her grandfather, it seems, is out.

They weren't sure what to do next; they knew they wanted to find Mo, but weren't entirely sure how. And then Delphine got a call from Las Vegas General. Rachel was in the ER.

Delphine drove there, as the sun was rising, and managed to keep her roused (with the Lethargic Condition) and get into the ER with minimal crisping. A doctor told her that Rachel has stumbled out of her apartment, knocked on a neighbor's door, and collapsed. She was presenting with symptoms similar to massive blood loss...but there were no wounds.

Left alone with her, Delphine scoured her body and found a dropped of blood on her neck. Licking it up, she realized it came from a vampire...of her line. Grandfather? Or had her father finally reappeared? We shall see.

The Show Must Go On, 4th Letter: Graves in the Desert

I ran the first session of my new Vampire story last night. Letter's in the last post.

We open in Binion's, with a poker gamer between Heath Newman (the Nosferatu owner of the casino) and Thomas Pilate, the Mekhet Sheriff of Las Vegas. Pilate informs Heath that the double murder of Lori and Ben Dennis in the parking lot of the Downtown Grand (and the abduction of their young son, Ben Jr.) is causing waves in the mortal, and therefore Kindred, community. Since his childe, Mordecai Pasternak, is the vampire claiming domain in that little area (since he owns the nearby Mob Museum), perhaps Heath would look in it? Or send some of those young vampires he keeps around him? Heath agrees, but says Pilate owes him a favor.

Heath grabs Delphine, a cocktail waitress (and also a Mekhet) working his hotel. He wants some backup, and it's a slow night. Myra, a pro-domme working out of Binion's (and a Ventrue), notes the news and feels compelled to investigate - she, too, has a young son, born before her Embrace.

The three of them head out to the Mob Museum. Mordecai's day employee, Carlos, tells him what's happened, and leaves. Mordecai is not only concerned, but hungry - he hasn't fed lately. The other Kindred arrive and enter. Mordecai denies knowing anything about the killings, but the conversation doesn't have a chance to go much further before Detective Sally Moore, LVPD Homicide, arrives.

Moore has dealt with vampires before; she's not fully savvy on what goes on, but she knows enough to know she doesn't want to know more. She asks Heath if this is beginning or ending; Heath isn't sure. She asks to take Mordecai's fingerprints to check against the crime scene. He agrees, but her machine won't read him - he's dead, and his fingers don't produce oils. This causes a breaking point (the player succeeds on the roll, but picks up the Bestial Condition - his hunger is getting to him).

Moore takes his prints with ink and leaves. The characters discuss the situation, and decide to go across the street and have a look at the crime scene. Heath, however, tells Mordecai to go feed - he's not going to do anyone any good like this. Mordecai grumbles, but agrees, and goes to a nearby casino to try and pick up older ladies playing slots. He fails miserably several times, and leaves in disgust.

Thomas Pilate finds him, and motions to a limo, in the back of which is a passed-out woman. Pilate tells Mordecai he needs to get himself together, and reminds him not to kill the woman. He also transfers his debt to Heath over to Mordecai.

Mordecai gets into the limo and feeds on the woman, managing to keep his Beast under control - only barely. He picks up the Tempted Condition as well. The Beast is lurking very close to the surface.

Meanwhile, the others go to the parking lot. Delphine looks around at the crime scene and sees blood in an arterial spray - whoever killed Ben Dennis, they didn't do it with their fangs. Myra goes into the hotel and Dominates the clerk for more information. He remembers that the couple hadn't checked out, and on the night they did an Asian woman came into the lobby from one of the rooms (where she'd been squatting, which the clerk says happens around here). Myra comes back, Mordecai joins them, and they go up to the couple's room. They don't find anything, but Myra smells the scent of baby powder, and feels a pang.

Stumped for a new lead, Delphine calls Maeve Blackwell (the local face of the Circle of the Crone) and asked if she knows any uses for the blood of a child. Maeve knows several, and none of them are good. She hasn't heard of anyone in the city who would do this kind of thing, but admits that Vegas has a high vampire tourist rate. Shortly after, Delphine's mortal girlfriend, Rachael, calls, asking if Delphine will come over this morning. Delphine says she can't, and Rachael bids her good night, dejected.

Mordecai belongs to a little club of people who pay attention to (and enjoy) the dirtier side of Vegas, so he gets on the phone. 45 minutes later he has a conversation with a school bus driver who picked some kids up in Henderson this morning, and two of them were talking about hearing a baby crying in an abandoned house.

That's the best lead they have, so Heath orders up his SUV and they head out to Henderson. Delphine points out that she's from Henderson, which is probably a coincidence.

Vampire Notes

Running Vampire: The Requiem tonight. Should take notes. Now that all four of my players have return the little questionnaire I sent out two weeks ago, I can do that. :)

The Show Must Go On - Season Four (notes)

So last night we made characters for a new Vampire: The Requiem story, in this chronicle. Said chronicle predates this blog, meaning if you want to read about it you either go to RPG.net or you poke around in my Livejournal, which is labyrinthine.

I've run three stories in this game, all with a different cast, but always with some overlap (usually +Matthew Karafa). I read through the previous stories, and holy cats, they're dense. There are a lot of names flying around, lots of vampires in Vegas, which only makes sense.

So, the first story ("The Extras Union") was pretty unfocused. I know what I was going for, but I should have adjusted the story to fit the new players and characters. As a result, it was good, but it wasn't as tight as the ones that followed.

Second story ("The Week of Roses") was directed by Robert Rodriguez, I think. Lots of death and people speaking Spanish. It ended with the characters in a locus in Corpus Christi where they managed to remove clans entirely, changing the face of Kindred society.

Third story ("Six Cards, Six Shots") was directed by Quentin Tarantino. That is, just as much violence and murder, but with a kind of more po-mo/organized crime slant, and entirely in Las Vegas (plus, poker tournament and lots of important characters).

So, just for the goddamn hell of it, here are the PCs through this chronicle:

• Heath Newman (Nosferatu, Ordo Dracul): Owner of Binion's and now a new, Japanese-themed casino off-Strip. Appeared as a PC in "The Extras Union" and "Six Cards, Six Shots" and made a cameo in "The Week of Roses" playing the PCs in poker for their blood. 
• Padma Gupta (Daeva, Ordo Dracul): Clubber and drug addict. Appeared as a PC in "The Extras Union" and hasn't been seen since. I rather suspect she's still in town and has drugged herself into draugr status somehow. 
• John Marconi (Ventrue, Ordo Dracul): Fixer and problem-solver, probably should have been Invictus. Appeared as a PC in "The Extras Union" and cameo'd in the next two stories. I think he's probably grown in City Status and become a fixer full-time, working directly under Courant (the Koagion). 
• Lindsey Sandford (Mekhet, Ordo Dracul): Scholar and sociologist, appeared as a PC in "The Extras Union" and cameo'd in "The Week of Roses" to tell Aaron McCaskill about banes. She was fairly well-appointed within the Ordo, so I think she's still in town studying the Kindred condition. 
• Aaron McCaskill (Mekhet/Jones, Ordo Dracul): WWI soldier and utter nutbag, not especially well-regarded in Vegas, but somewhat infamous. PC in "The Week of Roses" and referenced in "Six Cards, Six Shots." He owned a pawn shop in Vegas, so I think he's probably still around. 
• Alice Storms (Daeva/Carthian): Embraced in the 70s along with her boyfriend, generally doing the "lusty vampire" thing. PC in "The Week of Roses". Stayed in Vegas, but who may have moved on by now. 
• John Taylor (Mekhet/Carthian): Ex-CIA spook, Embraced in Afghanistan in the 80s. Acted as a kind of voice of reason (as a PC) during "The Week of Roses", and left Vegas thereafter. 
• Adele Bergeron (Daeva/Circle of the Crone): Embraced in the 30s while traveling to see family, doing the unlife of a bon-vivant in Vegas. Wound up becoming the somewhat unwilling protege of Dawn Waiting Snake during "The Week of Roses," and left Vegas thereafter. I imagine she's still learning Cruac somewhere. 
• Louis Duquesne (Nosferatu/Carthian): Was a cop in New Orleans until his Embrace, then wound up in Vegas. Shares a sire with Maeve Blackwell and Granjera (now dead). Was a PC in "The Week of Roses," and hasn't been seen since; might have gone home to New Orleans. 
• Edric Simons (no clan, but sort of Mekhet-ish/Carthian): Sent from Chicago to accompany Bella Dravanzie. PC during "Six Cards, Six Shots." Went home to Chicago thereafter. 
• Christian Geist (no clan, but very Daeva-ish/unaligned): Club kid and dancer. PC during "Six Cards, Six Shots." May have gone walkabout afterwards, possibly to Bone Valley. 
• Miranda Walker (Mekhet/Carthian): Gambler/math expert in Vegas to beat the house. PC in "The Week of Roses" and "Six Cards, Six Shots." Now runs Newman's Japanese-themed casino. 
• Marena Calia (no clan, but feels Daeva/unaligned): Lounge singer, former thief, embezzler. PC during "Six Cards, Six Shots." Now a dancer and singer at the Japanese-themed casino. 
• Reverend Morris Jensen (no clan, but Gangrel-ish/Lancea et Sanctum): Lancea et Sanctum enforcer, killer, and confessor. Was a PC during "Six Cards, Six Shots" until Christian diablerized him in frenzy. 

Now, for this story, our PCs are:

• Heath Newman (see above). Known issues: Humanity is 5, which means no Touchstone unless he buys the Merit. A bunch of XP, but under the old system. The current Coils system leaves me a little cold.
• +Matthew Homentosky's nameless yutz: Mekhet/Invictus. Runs a nostalgia museum in Vegas, stays at Binion's. Embraced in the 60s and once shook Sinatra's hand. Looking to increase his standing in the covenant. Known issues: Needs Aspirations and a name.
• Myra Siegel (Ventrue/Invictus): Embraced only recently, leaving behind a young son (Tyler) whom she gave up for adoption. Worked as a pro-domme and was Embraced by a client. Still does the work, out of Binion's. Known issues: Her Touchstone should be on 7, since she's Ventrue. Needs 1 more Merit dot. 
• Delphine (Mekhet/Circle of the Crone): Her (mortal) family has a weird, magical history involving vampires; her father, who was supposed to kill her for not being a boy, instead Embraced her at 18. She's a cocktail waitress at Binion's, and wants to Embrace her girlfriend. Known issues: Needs to spend 3 more Merit dots, needs a last name.

Now some notes that players shouldn't read: