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Alistair 3/6 Willpower 6/10 Vitae "Ohh that is good. A decent meal, no-one is hurt and we all go away 'Krack'. Oh just wonderful, this is exactly what I wanted from this feeding trip" thought Alistair. "Good evening, sorry to disturb you so late, but I am checking your cows for the onset of Casters fever, it is a known form of disease, common to cattle in the area. I have been appointed temporarily to lodgings in the centre of town, unfortunately the girls do not like it. Obviously, I did not want to disturb you so late, but its necessary that we make sure as soon as possible, otherwise it could well impact more of the surrounding area. You may have seen me in town? My grandfather runs the bar and library off of 9th street? I am so sorry to bother you!" Alistair gives his best smile, whilst also sending the blood round his system to appear as human as possible. (Rolling Composure+Academic[to make it sound convincing]+Status, Rochester. Also using "Blush of life" and 1 willpower for talking to the guy.
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Jul 9, 2014 22:35
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 Loren - Will: 6/6 Vitae: 11/11 Status: Meditated"Virginia, what you hint at happening did not happen." "Thank you for your belief in my potential and your trust. I will not betray that trust. But I also won't act solely on your word that the leadership of the city needs to be replaced. I will observe their actions and make my own judgements. If they are truly reprehensible, I will likely aid your cause. If they're just self-interested and corrupt, I'll stay out of your way as long as you avoid atrocities of your own. But whatever I do, I will do it outside the House. I have some historical issues, yes, but mostly I don't think I can be the person I want to be in a group like that. There are no shortcuts to where I want to go."
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Jul 10, 2014 00:40
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Roshan As he looks over the scene, Roshan thinks to himself. Well, looks line Vince made it back in time after all. That makes things easier, at least in theory; there was a chance that the Sabbat had noticed the guitarist's absence but kept fighting anyway, but it would be hard to confirm that. At the moment, he should probably assume that he was safe. Which meant that the most pressing issue was the blatant Masquerade breach occurring in front of him. That idiot Stone was drinking in the middle of a crowd, and not even bothering to hide it. loving Sabbat. Well, besides stopping a potential breach, Roshan could do what Alistair had been planning and break up this fight, before anyone ends up in the hospital. How to do that was the question; sending them into a Frenzy or trying to trick them into fighting each other would likely only magnify the damage, both to the Masquerade and to the onlookers, so as much as he wanted Locke to pay for what happened earlier, trying to get the Assamite hurt or killed was not the way to go. However... Locke and Stone seemed to be the leaders of this little group. If one of them were to flee the scene, the others might follow them instead of continuing the fight. He just had to make it happen. He smiles to himself as he reaches out mentally for the Assamite. Poor Locke had been mistaken earlier. Blood isn't necessary to facilitate the spread of madness; neither is his ability to speak. All that is needed to share Malkav's truth is a thought. Spending a point of Willpower to hit Locke with Dementia Praecox. 12 dice (Presence + Empathy + Dementation for 10, limiting the effects to one night for a +2 bonus), my target successes being his Willpower. His roll is his Resolve + Presence, target successes are 8 (my Composure + Dementation). If I win, the hallucination being imposed upon him is that the sun is going to rise in the next few minutes. Roland Jones fucked around with this message at 05:46 on Jul 10, 2014 |
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Jul 10, 2014 04:18
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Marge's Lakeside Virginia leans back in her chair, sighing. "It doesn't matter if you have truly done so, or not, Loren." She frowns. "The fact of the matter is Tremere propaganda says you have done so if you do not belong to the House. It is only a matter of time before someone accuses you." She tilts her head to examine the Salubri. "Likely the Prince, if your usefulness to him runs out. This is how these things are done." She shrugs. "Still, I cannot force you to do something you do not wish - and I will offer you this. I will say nothing." She stands, throwing a ten dollar tip on the table for a non-existent meal, and a card, aside. "If you change your mind, please call me. We can still be of use to each other." Dairy Farm The farmer cocks his head in confusion. "But...why would you come unannounced in the middle of the night, Mister? That's just a drat fool thing to do. And you broke my door, sir. I expect compensation. And I expect you to leave, now." The man doesn't fire, but the bizarre occurrence still left him ill at ease. The Flying Squirrel It's a minute thing, at first, but Locke's eyes suddenly dilate as Roshan's madness swiftly overcomes his will and takes roost in his conscious mind. With a start, he distracts the rest of To Serve Man from their revelry and drags them together. "We should go, now!" He hisses desperately. "We've been out too late!" The rest of the band looks confused, but then, the Assamite was the Ductus. So, excusing themselves rather suddenly, they head back down the stairs and out, Locke hurrying to a beat up old Corvette in the parking lot, followed by the rest of the band. Vince looks back for a moment, narrowing his eyes in thought. "Come on you poo poo, you want to get caught in the sun!?" Locke shouts at him. With a shake of his head, the Lasombra heads after the rest of the band and they take off.
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Jul 10, 2014 16:34
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Alistair 3/6 Willpower 6/10 Vitae "I broke your wha- Oh my goodness I am so sorry" feigned Alistair moving towards the door and the gentleman trying to look both bewildered and contrite "I thought it seemed a bit stiff but I had no idea I was breaking in! I do apologise sir!And yes of course you will be compensated" Alistair handed over a 50 dollar bill from his wallet, wincing as to how much blood and cash this was costing. "But I do have to warn you of something quickly" Alistair motioned over to one of the cows. "You see here sir, there are tell tale bite wounds, often these are left by ticks or things of that nature I think there may even be an infestation. The best thing you can do is collect some blood from the cattle yourself and send it to be analysed at the local College. Otherwise, you may end up with an epidemic!" Besides, Alistair thought to himself, he had heard rumours that the campus had a vampire community, anything to get a meal and a convenient meet up with whomever was in charge there shouldn't be wasted. Using Manipulation+Academics+Expression to try and convince the guy of this. If that doesn't work am going to pay him and then head back to where my "car should be" and start walking home.
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Jul 10, 2014 21:25
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Loren - Will: 6/6 Vitae: 11/11 Status: Meditated Loren picks up Virginia's card and starts the very long walk home.
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Jul 11, 2014 05:00
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Roshan As Roshan watches the Sabbat leave, he feels a rush of relief. While he was rather certain that was going to work, images of everything going wrong still flitted through his head. Sometimes it's hard to tell the difference between madness and the gibbering of his kin over the Network, the true visions and useful gibbering of his kin, and his own paranoia. Anyway, unless he wanted to follow a car on foot, he was done pestering the Sabbat for the night. Now to find another way to occupy his time until morning. First, though, something to eat. Conspiring against evil sects, being threatened with violence, and spreading the good word of Malkav left one rather famished. Roshan's going to go prowl some alleyways and catch rats or something until he fills up (or he's at risk of being discovered; since he's not super-low on blood he can afford prudence). I'll figure out what he's going to do next, assuming we aren't wrapping up the night soon, after that. Roland Jones fucked around with this message at 06:58 on Jul 11, 2014 |
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Jul 11, 2014 05:14
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Dairy Farm The farmer looks skeptical, but peers over Alistair's shoulder at the cows. "Well...those are some bad looking bites, I guess. I'll send 'em, but not because you asked Mr. You better go!" He shoos the Mekhet with his rifle, more concern on his face than anger, at this point. Everybody The rest of the night is uneventful, some of the coterie looking for a snack, and the rest just looking for rest for the night. The next night dawns without any particular malefic visions. Except for Alistair: he's meeting with the prince, and there's something (or, it seems, a lot of somethings) just out of sight, over the prince's shoulder, smelling like a charnel house. Everything the prince says with his phony smile is drowned out by a blood-curdling screech. He reaches over to shake Alistair's hand, and pulls back the Mekhet's whole arm, which he throws out a window. Alistair screams, and the same screech comes out. Then he wakes up. Roshan can have 3 vitae - I just rolled stuff out. Otherwise, decide what your plans are for the evening, kids. Someone should meet with the prince, probably! OOC Stuff: Night is over so it is time to spread some Beats. We'll give 3 Beats for regular posting (Epicurus missed a couple opportunities, though I know there was some personal stuff so no big deal), and 4 Beats for excellent roleplaying because you all did really good jobs with all your stuff. Also everyone met To Serve Man and also recruited one of them, so, 4 more beats for interaction, too. LifeGetsWorser fucked around with this message at 04:05 on Jul 12, 2014 |
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Jul 11, 2014 14:49
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Alistair 3/6 Willpower 5/10 Vitae "Gah!" Alistair wakes up from what, he supposes for a second, could be called a daymare. He still remembers the taloned hand of that old monster, the sound of cracking bone when the poor gangrel, Arthur wasn't it? Had his neck snapped like a dry reed, the feeling of running forever did not exactly help him to settle. He tried to focus, and called down to his Grandad, still manning the bar 'Bestefar, I may be going out tonight, but I'd like to talk after I get back in, ja?' He quickly texted the others 'Going to try and talk to the Prince, anyone else coming along this evening? All the best, Alistair :P'. He liked adding the smiley, its something that he hated when other people did, but felt it made him a bit more in touch with humanity if he fouled up conversations in perfectly ordinary ways. For now though, he wanted to do a bit of reading, the Sabbat last night had mentioned how two Antediluvians had met there maker because of them, he wanted to find out more about them and most importantly he wanted to find out what myths they corresponded to. After that, and if the meeting with the Prince had to be postponed, he'd pop by the University. There was something there that he could use, he was sure of it. Using Intelligence+Occult to do research into Antediluvian mythology. Want to have a quick chat with grandad tonight about the war and the Thule society if he feels up to it.
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Jul 11, 2014 17:24
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Loren - Will: 6/6 Vitae: 11/11 Status: Meditated "Be at your place in a bit," texts Loren to Alistair before sitting down to meditate. First attempt 1 success Second attempt 4 successes An hour and a half later, Loren arrives at the bar, once more dressed in her court finery. Also took one of the three remaining Vitae from Herd.
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Jul 11, 2014 20:22
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Glitnir- A conversation between Loren - Will: 6/6 Vitae: 11/11 and Alistair 3/6 Willpower 5/10 Vitae “Well I see you made it, quite the place right?” asks Alistair. “Mmm,” nods Loren non-committally. “The deer head is very interesting.” “My grandad shot it himself, he’s quite the marksman when he gets in the mood! But, we’d probably best get on to… whatever the hell that was last night” Alistair moves a bit closer “Do you think the prince set us up to fail? I sincerely hope not, but I’ve been having dream visions and I do not like to ignore them.” “I’m guessing the prince doesn’t care enough about us to set us up to fail. Could be a member of his council or it could just be no one thought about it too hard.” “ If there is one thing I learned, its that never think you are beneath anyone's notice. If only as a playing piece.” Alistair has become oddly serious, a big change from his flippant act with the others last night. “Whilst we are young we are vulnerable, we need to understand each other and the group overall if we are to have any hope of seeing our first century. With that in mind, I’d like to ask to come along to one of your Buddhist sessions, if you would not mind”. “Of course, anyone willing to treat everyone else with respect is always welcome,” she replies, clearly pleased with the prospect. “Good, and I would appreciate your help in something I have planned. I would like to talk to your group about some help with research, I am of the idea that knowledge is power, and if they can help me find some of the pieces about the local area, nothing spooky you understand, it would help.” “Like what? Unfortunately the records are kind of messed up at the moment. Our primary librarian left suddenly.” “I wanted to find out something about the local population, if we can identify problems in the city we can… well we can try and lessen the suffering there, try and work towards making this place a better city. For us and Humanity.” Alistair continues, “I realise that sounds stupidly naive, but I think we should at least attempt it. We live too long to think in just the immediate term.” Loren nods, “Yes, I see. One thing you could help with right away is the volunteer work I do when there is nothing else pressing. Basically I wander around in some of the bad parts of town providing basic medical care for prostitutes, homeless people, gangsters, whoever is out and about late at night and needs help. It’s not real safe, but you’ve got some of the same advantages I do in that regard, so you’d be welcome to follow along and keep an eye out for things while we walk.” “That sounds like a capital idea. Plus with some of my more natural abilities I am less likely to be noticed. But I must ask you something else about the meeting we are about to have with the prince. Do you think we should ask for some kind of boon from him? I would think that giving your underlings some sort of reward might be expected.” “I don’t know,” says Loren, looking into the distance in thought. “What I really want is to be left alone unless there’s a particular kind of problem that needs my skills. I think the key to that is trying to walk the line between being useless, needy, and vitally important. For the moment just saving up the minor favors owed might be my best bet. You also don’t want to end up owed too much, of course, because then sometimes it’s less work to just make the favors go away.” “An accurate, if somewhat cynical view. Personally, well everyone has thought ‘I can run this place better’ but it seems kind of obvious that power here is a bit of an academic exercise and that the major players do not exactly Like each other. Actual power, on the ground to make things better seems to rest with other groups, whilst we either squirrel ourselves away, or end up making catty remarks. It just seems so wasteful sometimes.” “I like to think of it as ‘ancient wisdom’, not cynicism,” says Loren with a grin. “But that’s just because it was the advice given to me by an ancient person.” She turns slightly more serious. “And while I may have thought ‘I can run this place better’ once upon a time, I think I’m free of that delusion now. Trying to keep a pretty low key spiritual group in good shape is just barely something I can handle. There’s no way I’d be good at anything bigger or more competitive.” “I would say that it could always be collaborative. But even I know that it’s unlikely to work out, we are all to in hoc to beasts to let ourselves collaborate for too long. But you are doing something, you are making a difference, and if I can I’d like to help with that” Alistair grins and extends a hand with a wink “to the elimination of suffering in this turn of the wheel?” Loren shakes his hand firmly, “A noble goal."
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Jul 12, 2014 00:21
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Roshan Roshan, crouching in a dark alleyway, lowered the now-still rat from his mouth. It disgusted him, really. It was dirty and degrading. Sometimes he wondered if it was even worth it, forcing himself to not feed on other people. Arguably, killing roughly two or three rats (or other small animals, lime pigeons) for every day of the rest of his life wasn't much better than taking minor amounts of blood from people who ideally wouldn't even remember the incident. On the other hand, the average non-vegetarian human consumed the same if not more's worth of animal per day, so in a way this was more human than most vampiric antics. It still didn't make the rats taste better. Still, there was a reason to not feed on humans (or dogs or cats, things that might be someone's pet) beyond guilt and clinging to humanity. The Mysteries of the Ordo Dracul changed the nature of a vampire, as one mastered their Coils. But as much as the Coils were occultist art, they were also sheer, bloody-minded forcing oneself to change. Drawing out one's Beast, then wrestling with it until it is forced to heel. Touching the fire until it not only doesn't scare you, but doesn't even burn. Staring into the sun and spitting in the eye of God. While his goals were not exactly in line with those of the Ordo's at large, he didn't believe they were impossible. Developing new Coils was not only possible, it was encouraged, albeit uncommon. And there were rumors, scraps of information in books and whispers in the night and in his head. Perhaps it would all be worth it, sooner or later. He stood up, dropping the rat carcass into the dumpster as he passed, and walked back out into the night. ----- The next night, Roshan wakes up and readies himself for the meeting with the Prince. Put on the least-awful clothes he has. Brush his hair enough to make it look like he may have possibly tried to make it look nice. Not wrap his head up in scarves and bandannas like he took fashion tips from the Invisible Man. Make himself presentable, for a certain definition of the word. Definitely not respectable. But being underestimated was a blessing and an advantage in the society he now "lives" in. (The Invisible Man look is in fact one of his favorite ways of going out some nights. Ridiculous enough to misdirect people, while still disconcerting and somewhat menacing. And it does a very good job of hiding his face.) After preparing for Elysium and taking care of a few other things, Roshan leaves his apartment under the guise of Obfuscate, making his way to the Glitnir to meet with the others.
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Jul 12, 2014 01:06
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The Memorial Art Gallery Roshan, Alistair, and Loren pull up to the Prince's court without much fanfare. Loren does note Virginia in attendance downstairs, though the Tremere gives her a wide berth for now. Up the stairs to the organ room once more, just the Prince was there this time. Gustavus smiled his phony smile at the neonates, and indicated they should sit at one of the pews. "So, am I to assume you were successful in showing the light to a few hopefully reformed savages, then?"
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Jul 12, 2014 04:38
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Loren - Will: 6/6 Vitae: 11/11 Status: Meditated Loren bows and gives her report. "There were four Sabbat present, honored elder. They were not friendly but refrained from violence even knowing we were Camarilla until we questioned the standard Sabbat world view too closely. They then threatened us and showed that they could probably win, too, so we decided to retreat and let the seeds we had planted grow. After we left the club one of the Sabbat approached us, signed the book, and said he wanted to switch sides and would send any others like him he encountered to us."
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Jul 12, 2014 07:06
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Roshan Roshan also bows, and smiles. "I'm not worried; as I understand it threatening to kill you is how the Sabbat says hello. I'm sure we're going to be great friends."
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Jul 12, 2014 07:11
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Elysium Gustavus' smile wavers for a moment at Roshan's comment, but he clears his throat and continues. "Yes, well, a good start." He pauses for a moment, almost like he was waiting for a non-present primogen to chime in. "Ahm, well, at any rate. A minor boon for you all. Use it wisely." He blinks, a forced motion, probably to demonstrate the conversation was over, but then he added "Oh, yes, I almost forgot. The book?"
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Jul 12, 2014 07:15
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Roshan "Of course. Here it is." Roshan bows again, then presents the book to Gustavus.
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Jul 12, 2014 07:24
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Elysium "Good, very good. Well done." He shakes the Malkavian's hand, waiting until Roshan wasn't looking to wipe it off on his pants leg. "You are all dismissed."
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Jul 12, 2014 07:26
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Alistair 3/6 Willpower 6/10 Vitae "Thank you very much honoured one" said Alistair trying to make sure he sounded at least reasonably sincere with the last chat to the prince. Once safely out of earshot he turned to the others, "This man couldn't be in charge of a fish stall, never mind a city! Anyway, I think we should get to work on separate goals for the next night or so, it appears as if the majority of the movers and shakers are here, should we see if we can find out anything?"
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Jul 12, 2014 07:33
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Roshan 5/5 Willpower, 9/10 Vitae Roshan smiles again. "Of course, your majesty. You have my sincerest gratitude." He looks at Alistair as they walk away. "The Warlocks wouldn't have put him in place if he were capable of leading on his own. That would defeat the purpose." He pauses, thinking. "My next few nights are presently empty; should either of you require assistance, I am more than happy to lend my own touch to the problems you face." While he does have a few things that he is pursuing himself, the timetables on his plans are fluid, and assisting the coterie is a goal of his, since it indirectly helps him anyway.
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Jul 12, 2014 07:45
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Loren - Will: 6/6 Vitae: 11/11 Status: Meditated "I've got a few things to take care of back at the Center, but call me if something comes up," says Loren. She bows slightly to Roshan and Alistair and heads home.
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Jul 12, 2014 07:53
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Alistair 3/6 Willpower 6/10 Vitae "If you don't mind I wanted to have a quick chat with whomever is walking around here, see what I can find out about the situation in the city overall. Then I want to head back to mine and start doing research about potential sites of occult import in the city. I think that might help you in particular Roshan, I thought dragons loved there mystic sites?" Alistair looked around the room and seeing some kindred, decided to focus and see what his visions would tell him about the place they were in and the people within it. Using Dream Visions on either the gathered Kindred or the building itself to gain more information. Up to you which will make for the better story
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Jul 12, 2014 07:56
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Elysium For a moment, Alistair's eyes unfocus, and then, when they re-focus, he does notice something. Some Kindred here, seemed to have more than one shadow. It was hard to count the exact number, but they orbited around them as if caught in a wheel. Three men, four women. None of whom seemed familiar, at least, consciously. But each one with a multitude of shadows.
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Jul 12, 2014 08:37
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Alistair 3/6 Willpower 6/10 Vitae "Wheels within wheels, fantastic." Alistair turns to Roshan and points to the vampires that he saw with the rotating shadows. "Lets go make some friends, I'll explain more later." Sidling up to the group he attempts to overhear what, if anything, the vampire with the shadows is talking about. Approaching one of the camps with the weird shadows, hanging back and listening in, using Wits+Investigation to see if I can overhear anything. If that doesn't work using Intelligence+Occult to puzzle out any meaning for additional shadows. Josef bugman fucked around with this message at 18:15 on Jul 12, 2014 |
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Jul 12, 2014 09:03
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Roshan 5/5 Willpower, 8/10 Vitae "Ooh, a mystery. I love mysteries." Roshan grins as he follows along. He casts his gaze over the vampires Alistair pointed out, his mind reaching out into the communal knowledge of his clan and drawing upon the "wisdom" of Malkav's blessing to gain knowledge of these Kindred that would be less apparent to his shadowy friend beside him. Using Mad Insight to gain, well, insight into the suspicious vampires. Roll is 9 dice (Wits + Occult + Dementation). No particular effect in mind, beyond something that will get some information on them, so go with whatever you feel like/think would be the most interesting. Also wondering if any of these vampires would have any other traits Roshan would instinctively recognize (possession of Malkavian Time or being under the effects of Dementia Praecox, for example). Roland Jones fucked around with this message at 09:52 on Jul 12, 2014 |
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Jul 12, 2014 09:27
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Elysium Roshan and Alistair both puzzle over the situation presented to them. Roshan doesn't see shadows, per-se, more like...afterimages. Just one each, though on the same individuals that Alistair had seen earlier. Like the vision that Cyril had imposed on him the previous night, each of these Kindred's double images was grainy and out of focus, though they filled the Malkavian with a sense of dread. Alistair is unable to maneuver in such a way that allows him to overhear conversations without being extremely obvious. A sort of a strange position for a Mekhet to be in, but, there you have it. Still, he focuses on the vision, and counts: each one of these vampires had exactly seven shadows. Something about that triggered another memory. The gunshots, from the dream previous - now cloudy and indistinct, he thought he had remembered exactly seven gunshots that night, counting the last one where he shot himself.
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Jul 13, 2014 02:11
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Roshan 5/5 Willpower, 8/10 Vitae As the apparitions form before him, Roshan's grin freezes and he almost recoils a bit. That... Those were probably not good. How, exactly, he wasn't sure, though. The visions always meant something, even if it was hard to figure out. This, though... Possession? Diablerie? It was hard to say; all the afterimages resembled those they followed, rather than another individual. And seven different possessions in one area would require a Ventrue elder conspiracy or something. Which is admittedly possible, but seemed too unlikely, at least for a first option. As for diablerie, again, it feels like that would be visualized as ghosts of the victims rather than a copy of the individual. And then there was the resemblance to his earlier vision. Could Cyril, or perhaps another Malkavian, be involved in this? Not being able to narrow down what was wrong here, even with the possible exclusion of the above, was worrisome. Alistair seemed to notice that something was wrong too; given the possibilities Roshan would prefer to get out of here before the two of them are noticed and share what they saw. Maybe the shared information would let them realize something that they can't realize with the scraps they've seen. He glances at the Mekhet, trying to gauge his reaction to this.
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Jul 13, 2014 04:12
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Alistair 3/6 Willpower 6/10 Vitae 7 shadows, 7 vampires, 7 gunshots. 7 seems to feature a lot in the last few days of dreams and nightmare. Remembering the faces and (if he overhears them) the names of the vampires, Alistair nods to Roshan and moves out of the Elysium, making sure to smile politely at the other predators milling about. Once outside he breathes out and turns to Roshan "I think we may have just accidentally uncovered something big. My dream visions (its a mekhet thing) have been warning me of something big and dark that is coming, I recommend that we head back to mine and begin doing some research into anything that might be associated with the number 7 to an absurd degree." Going to go back to Giltheim and get to work on doing research on the number 7, using Intelligence 5+ Occult 4 + Library (occult) 1 Josef bugman fucked around with this message at 18:49 on Jul 13, 2014 |
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Jul 13, 2014 08:39
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Roshan 5/5 Willpower, 8/10 Vitae Roshan doesn't say anything, merely nodding as he glances around the place and keeping an eye on the strange vampires (while not facing in that direction; this is exactly the situation he always wears those sunglasses for), already beginning to head for the exit as Alistair joins him. Roshan's trying to get one last look at the weird vampires on his way out. Wits 3 + Investigation 2 if a roll is necessary I suppose. Other than that, unless something happens on the way back to the bar I don't have anything to do in the immediate sense.
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Jul 13, 2014 08:46
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Leaving Elysium and the Return to Giltheim Roshan can't spot anything specific about the odd vampires on his and Alistair's way out the door, but an unidentifiable sense of dread was almost palpable. Still, they were simply smiling, talking, going about their nights in the Prince's court. No one notices the two neonates leave, which was probably to their benefit, paranoid that they were currently. The quick return to Alistair's bar/library is unimpeded, and then Alistair puts his nose into his books. The effect of research is astonishing. His grandfather's notes, actually, end up being a great help. It speaks of a discovery he made a long time ago regarding the Roman Numeral VII - or rather a symbol in a forgotten tongue that resembles the number. While at the time his grandfather wasn't certain what several of the references (Nod, the Dark Mother, Enoch) he discovered along with the numeric association meant, to Alistair they're all too familiar. Thanks to that, he was able to connect the dots to at least speculation. The VII (or Seven, if one was to speak it aloud - and hardly anyone ever did), were some sort of subversive cult, counter in interest to that of normal Kindred society. Hardly anything concrete could be found, but they were mentioned over and over in the margins of vampiric lore - anyone who tended to investigate them too closely either disappeared or quickly changed tracts of research. One thing was certain though - they were bad news.
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Jul 14, 2014 17:24
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Alistair 3/6 Willpower 6/10 Vitae "Gods and monsters, this is bad bad news" Alistair walked over to where his grandfather was sitting "[Grandad, I think we may need to send people home early tonight, and get prepared, I think we may end up having some unwelcome guests]" Alistair's grandad raises and eyebrow and chuckles "'[Jumping at shadows now, m'boy? You might have died but I can still see that you are a bit spooked. I will get the punters out and then you and your friend can get to work with whatever it is you need to do.]" "[I love you too, you crotchety old sod]" Alistair says with a smile as his grandad goes to the bar to announce an unfortunately early closing. Alistair turns to Roshan, "I think we may well have a serious problem, essentially we may be dealing with something halfway between the Sabbat and a clean link to Caine himself. I think we need to fortify here, warn the others and get started on ways to defend this place from intrusion." Sending a text to the others asking them to come round to mine for a drink, so that nothing suspicious is spread, other than that going to chat to grandad and try and get him to take the bolt action rifle out of the cupboard. Also using Intelligence+ Investigation to start mapping the whole place out in my head for defensive measures. Going to be rolling Intelligence+Occult to find out more about the Dark Mother. Also anything in [Without being italicised is in Norweigan] Josef bugman fucked around with this message at 21:55 on Jul 14, 2014 |
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Jul 14, 2014 17:44
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Roshan 5/5 Willpower, 8/10 Vitae Roshan listens in on the research now and then, though he isn't exactly able to help much with it. Most of his time waiting, though, he spends examining the bar itself, both the layout and how easily defensible it would be. Potential weak points as well. He remembers Alistair's offer before they went to meet the Sabbat, and with the apparent danger looming he's considering taking him up on it. While he's kept his lair a secret thus far, depending on how things go it was likely that he'd be discovered sooner or later, and if he is then at least he (and, more importantly, Nadia) was in a place that could actually keep someone out. Still, he didn't like the idea of dragging Nadia into the Danse Macabre, so before he does anything like that he needs to verify that it would be worth it. At least the customers being cleared out would make it easier to look around. When Alistair comes to him to report his findings, he listens silently, thinking. He's increasingly certain that these things are what Cyril's message was about, so the Primogen is both aware of them and is hoping he'll do something about it. (On some level, at least; it's hard to tell exactly what any individual Malkavian is aware of, especially in visions like that.) So, running, at least in the long term, probably wasn't an option. Tempting as it was; Cyril was also clearly terrified of these things, so combined with what Alistair was saying, there was definitely something horrible looming on the horizon. "Very well. Tell me what you've learned, and then we can begin to plan." Roshan's checking out Alistair's place (which is also one of his Aspirations, conveniently), dunno if that needs a roll or not. Also, Josef, if we can both be online at the same time we can have an IRC/GDoc conversation between Alistair and Roshan.
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Jul 15, 2014 02:41
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Loren - Will: 6/6 Vitae: 11/11 Status: Meditated Loren returns to the bar about thirty minutes after receiving Alistair's text, dressed now in her street-wandering outfit of loose pants, hoody, bulletproof vest, first-aid kit, and lots of knives. She takes a moment to think through everything she's learned as soon as the guys mention VII, holding up a hand to keep them from saying more and influencing her recall. Int+Occult 4 + Occult Specialty in Vampires (if it applies)
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Jul 15, 2014 06:45
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Giltheim Alistair glances around the bar, maybe in a bout of paranoia, to try and determine how defensible the place was. To it's advantage, it only had two entrances, one a small metal door that was exit only in the back (and activated a shrill, annoying fire alarm besides), and the large, heavy oak doors in the front, that lead to a stone staircase. Those being locked would keep the place relatively secure - but vampires were full of tricks and who really knew what the VII could do? Plus, the big inviting windows didn't help, and if anyone snuck in during bar hours, well, things could go sidways pretty quickly. Shaking his head of the realization that he wasn't much of a siege commander, the Mekhet returns to his books, a new track to focus on for more information. Headway comes slowly, while some promising leads (Lilith appeared in two texts, she is sometimes referred to as the Mother of Monsters, etc.) are readily apparent, it would take time to determine just what her supposed to connection to everything was. Hours maybe, entire nights, probably. Entering the bar, in the meanwhile, is Loren, running through any information on the numerically designated Kindred that she could recall silently - from what Si Thep mentioned, or maybe from what he remembered - what happened with him always made such things odd to recall - the VII tended to appear suddenly, and when they did, entire domains would crumble and vanish without a trace. What motivated them was a mystery to everyone though, even her sire.
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Jul 15, 2014 17:07
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Giltheim - VII Study Session Alistair welcomes the other two into the bar and sits them down. “My grandads cleared the place and he is, well lets just say he’s ‘kin’ and leave it at that. I think that we need to look into what we are facing here, the fact is that there is an absurd amount that we do not know about these guys. The best I have been able to find indicates they have links to a variety of myths associated with kindred lore. I believe I will need to do research for a few more nights before I can start making proper headway on this though.” Roshan looks at the other two, thinking over what they learned. He contemplates telling them about the vision; on the one hand, it was putting far more trust in them than he has done previously, but on the other, it might be necessary. The situation was likely to get very bloody, very fast. Loren nods along with Alistair’s request for time. “From what little I know, I think we should make one decision right now. If anyone values their unlife highly, they should leave immediately. The seven’s arrival seems to always leave little in their wake.” Listening to Loren’s words, Roshan chuckles to himself a bit. “Well, as much as I value myself, I don’t think I am able to leave. Tell me, are you two familiar with the… Legacy of my clan? The ‘connection’ we have to each other?” “Dribs and drabs only. More rumour than anything else, why is there something more we need to know about the oracles?” Alistair leans forward to listen to Roshan, the scholar in him coming out in full force. “There is a…” Roshan seems to be fishing around for a word, “A ‘network’ that links our minds, so to say. It is not only the likely source of our prescience and the reason we play the seer as much as we do the fool, but a way for us to… ‘Communicate’ with one another. Usually unintentionally, but some can put out a Call deliberately. “Last night, Cyril Giovanni appeared to me while I was walking here. In my head, I mean. He warned me to look out for ‘them’, that he couldn’t see them but I could. He seemed to be terrified. Then, when I looked at those seven earlier, images appeared around them, in a manner similar to that vision.” He pauses, thinking. “So, basically, I do not think that I can avoid this, because, on whatever level he is aware of it, the Primogen has tasked me to do something about this. Assuming I’m not crazy, at least.” He smiles, possibly sincerely. “I think judging by the poo poo we have seen over the last few nights, sanity may only be a relative term. But if that is the case, would it be possible to warn all of the other Malkavians in the city of the possibility of infiltration? At the very least it could buy us some allies. And thanks for bringing this up Roshan, it is always helpful.” “Do we know for sure that none of the seven are Malkavian themselves?” asks Loren. “As far as I could tell, no. We can generally, though not always, identify each other. As for warning the clan… On some level, many are probably already aware of it. We all know what each other knows, we just don’t know it most of the time. Expect to start seeing fewer of us on the street and even in Elysium these coming nights, though. A deliberate message, at least to the entire city, meanwhile… That is beyond me, at any rate.” “Bollocks. Still not exactly unexpected. I am going to spend the next few nights doing research, but again I would like to offer this building as a potential hold out for us all. Speaking of ‘all of us’ where the heck is Bob? Has anyone seen him? I must admit I am getting a bit worried, we could use someone to talk to others and see what they do, or don’t, know.” “The preacher’s actions are beyond me. Perhaps he is busy tending to his flock,” responded Roshan. Loren shrugged agreement. Alistair nods “More than likely”. “The few tidbits I remember make me think the humans probably are not in any more danger than usual, otherwise I’d probably be trying to organize the Center to evacuate,” she adds. “Well that is good at least, but if they target us, and have some sort of connection to the nether reaches of our society… Well I think we should start preparing our defences, Loren, would you mind awfully helping out here to do that tonight? I will get on with reading up, and Roshan if you would not mind helping me that would be fantastic.” Alistair sighs. “At the moment we need to get the stores ready, I think the next few nights are going to be, as always, fraught with interest.” “I’m happy to stay, if you’ve got three things to read, I can even try to help out there too. I did go to college, after all,” says Loren with a light tone to make it clear she took no offense. It was only two years at community college, too, but she sees no need to bring that up at the moment. “I would be more than willing to assist; I too enjoyed a brief time in academia. I could also contact my fellows in the Ordo; the Defiant are a well of esoteric knowledge. I won’t tell them that the seven are in town, though, as much to avoid their reaction as to avoid the hunters’.” “Sounds good. Alright team. Lets get to work on making this work. I have my library upstairs so please feel free to make use of it. I’ll start work on lilith, my first love was always the near eastern myths, would you like to work on Enoch Roshan? and Loren would you like to work on the land of Nod?” Alistair is slipping fully into his element, at least at this stage we could try and know the enemy before the fight began. When it actually began though, who knows how much use the information would be. “Of course,” says Loren. “Very well.” Roshan finds his task amusing, somewhat; Malkav is supposedly one of Enoch’s childer, so it is a rather appropriate task for him. Work divided, the three vampires set to their studies.
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Jul 16, 2014 00:59
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Study Session The work is slow - especially for Camarilla neonates, it takes some time. Being that the entire breadth of the subjects they were tackling were considered nothing more than flights of whimsy by the Ivory Tower, the information was difficult to come by. Still, with a few discrete calls to the Ordo Dracul, a thorough examination of Alistair's grandfather's notes, and pure Kindred stubbornness, the three of them begin to make some headway. Nights later, the three would uncover the following: Enoch is easily the most difficult subject: by turns referred to as the First city, and then the name of one of Caine's favored childer (or children, the information that Roshan finds isn't remarkably clear), it was apparently expunged in the Great Flood. There were rumors of some sort of survival, though that is usually attributed to the Antedeluvians, some accounts differ. Alistair continues his study into Lilith - by turns the Dark Mother, the Mother of Monsters, and...something else. In some translations she is Caine's first childe, and in others literally his lover and mother to his children: post Embrace, somehow. If that is to believed, the children of Caine and Lilith would be strange, potent creatures indeed. But her moniker as the Mother of Monsters would indicate they were somehow less...or more...than human. Perhaps surprisingly, Loren finds the most success in researching Nod. Frequently thought to be metaphor, nevertheless there is something of a chronicle of Caine's wanderings there. If it is a physical place it is a land devoid of sunlight. Curiously, and in cross-reference with Alistair's library, Loren verifies that it was in the land of Nod that Caine first found Lilith - who had ended up there some time before. In fact, their entire relationship consisted of time spent there. So, if Alistair's research was to be correct, Lilith's children must be adapted to such a realm. Still, something seemed missing. A link between the mythology and the formation of the VII. Somehow, the origins began in pre-history, though the research doesn't indicate the VII and Lilith's brood to necessarily be the same. Still, one must have lead to the other. Somehow.
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Jul 16, 2014 06:29
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Alistair 3/6 Willpower 6/10 Vitae "Well I think we have all seen what the history books tell us. Now it just remains for us to try and figure out what the hell it all means. We know that Lilith is at the heart of this, but it gets me to thinking that Nod may be more than just a place, but a separate realm to our own. That might be where VII comes from, alongside that... Enoch might actually be what they destroyed. Which makes them an extremely potent threat to all of us." "The question now though, is how do we remove this cancer before it removes us?" Using Intelligence+Occult- Specialisation near east to come up with a unified theory of VII, using all the data we have gathered. Josef bugman fucked around with this message at 21:03 on Jul 16, 2014 |
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Jul 16, 2014 20:29
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Loren - Will: 6/6 Vitae: 11/11 Status: Meditated "I think the thing we are missing is their motivation. That's the key to defeating them, and the key to finding the right allies. Whoever and whatever they are, we're not going to beat them without help."
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Jul 17, 2014 08:46
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Alistair 3/6 Willpower 6/10 Vitae "Very true... but tell you what, I will go along to the princes meeting tonight, I think I know the 7 vampires (or maybe not vampires, with this lot it is hard to tell), and then we stake out their territory and then speak to Salome. We get the warlocks involved and they are bound to go after these guys, if only because they represent trouble and presage the arrival of the strix. Then we do our level best to make a play for as much of their territory as possible, move into their positions, take their ghouls and make them regret their actions in keeping knowledge hidden from us." Alistair's voice rises and a feral gleam comes into his eyes. He knows that he wants to make a difference and by whatever metric these things wanted to harm others, and he wanted to show them what fools they were to mess with his city. Going for a 'pride' willpower point, using what we already know alongside Intelligence+Occult to tell if VII are a negative influence and a danger to 'normal' kindred. Then using Intelligence+Status Rochester+Status Camirilla to tell where VII's territories are, so that they can be found out and their resources used by us
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Jul 17, 2014 23:56
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Study Session It's difficult to come up with a unified theory without having all the actual information, but what Alistair can piece together, if he's right, is something potentially massive. If Lilith birthed monsters, Lilith either was the mother of the founders of the Clans, or, potentially, something else. Further, it would seem to be unlikely that the VII would destroy Enoch without a cause - the general thesis is that it was destroyed by the angry hand of God in retaliation for the excesses of the Kindred, but vampires are vampires are vampires and the VII are vampires so...if they destroyed it, it would have been for another reason. Or it was destroyed despite them. So maybe revenge for the fall of Enoch was the real motivator. The VII were a real danger - like using fire to burn out a wood louse infection; it freed Kindred society, but left it ruined ashes in doing so. The other problem was the apparent parasitic nature - they didn't have a territory. Being that they mostly worked through sleeper agency, anyone could be a VII, innocuous until activated. LifeGetsWorser fucked around with this message at 00:08 on Jul 18, 2014 |
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Jul 18, 2014 00:00
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