Let's Play VtM: Night Empire

[laclongquan]

FOR THE EMPERAH!!!

This situation call for delicate touch.

On the one hand, one wrong move and a lot of people will know about the Vamp connection. I mean, just sending troop in might not be effective, considering the Bish of Ox can just say a few words of explaination to stop it cold. The A solution, as it stands, is not enough.

Expend our ghoul squad is... premature, i would think. The same situation apply, and even if we can force them to kill everyone in that house, there's still other hunters elsewhere and no way to track them. And the squad shall be gone. B is not recommended.

C... I dont know. It mean we are just a rabbithound, barking like mad to lead true hunters to the prey...

D. There's problems with D. We need to restrain the Kin force in full. We need to use many of our resources to keep surveillance.

I am in favour of D. Listen, watch and learn. Later on we may manipulate the hunters into attacking the Sabbat which would be a fun thing to achieve.

 

[Storyfag]

E inform Archon Iacomo as is our duty. Then proceed to the Bishop's palace to take personal charge of the operation until our lord Archon arrives. Presence and Dominate should turn the surveilance team and the assault team into loyal minions, ready and willing to let the Archon do as he pleases.

 

[Kz3r0]

C) Tell Horn to do nothing for now, and contact Iacomo about the hunters’ location.

Let's be good kids here.

Ps:
We now know that the next prince will be our candidate, you know, the Sabbat plant.

 

[CappenVarra]

Nicely done!

Considering the complications, I'd say that C) is not an option - too many civilians are already involved. A) means we risk losing the hunters and only partially eliminating them, or causing a Masquerade breach when the hunter's powers are used - that's no good. D) is tempting, but I'm all out of subtlety and say B). Yes, it means we might lose some ghouls. Yes, it means the existence of our squad is likely to become public knowledge among the Camarilla. Still, fuck it.

In case somebody has a brilliant plan how to sic the huntards on Sabbat without causing further trouble, I'm all ears.

 

[Gondolin]

Excellent update, grotsnik!

I vote C. This is Iacomo's show and, if we asked nicely, he may let us join him. If the vampire captured by the hunters is still alive, we cannot afford to let Horn's troops see him.

 

[oscar]

Will Iacomo prefer if we take control and get'r'done or will he prefer that we consult with him ('team player')?

 

[Kalin]

Well, Iacomo only seemed to want Turcov to track them down for him, but he would probably still appreciate it if they were wiped out. For Sommers, the destruction of the inquisitors would be a very nice accomplishment as it would be a strong argument for him strengthening the Camarilla's position in London, a prerequisite for keeping the barony.

Of course, contacting Iacomo first would still seem prudent, but it would seem that there is now quite an operation going on, so these hunters could very well be aware that they have been discovered. For example, they might have access to all kinds of tracking and sensory equipment, and they could also have tapped into kine security channels. If so, it would be better to strike fast and hard, before the moment is lost.

In regards to the assault, sending in the ghouls seems risky, seeing how the inquisitors could identify them as tainted and employ some kind of holy techniques against them. It would also take some time to get them there, so again, it would be most sub-optimal. (Also, there is the matter of masquerade violations to consider.)

As such, I vote:

A - Send in the human counter-terrorist force to conduct preemptive neutralisation.

 

[Gondolin]

Absolutely not.

- there's no momentum to lose because, now that the hunters have been found, they will be kept under watch wherever they go.

- if the counter-terrorism team dies in a bad gunfight at the Bishop's residence, we have a fucking scandal on our hands. And you can be sure that the other barons + Iacomo won't blame the scandal and any possible violation of the Masquerade on William Horn. We're dealing with a dangerous situation.

- if the hunters somehow slip away after we alerted Iacomo, well, that's his problem.

On the other hand, directing the hunters to the nearby Sabbat den is... tempting.

 

[Esquilax]

“Yes, yes,” says Iacomo, “you’re all absolutely overjoyed that I’ve come along to babysit you, and you say prayers for my eternal soul every dawn before you go to bed. I don’t give a fig for this lip-service, Turcov. If you want to help, find out where these fanatics are hiding for me.”

“Yes - look, we’re all getting rather worried over here. We, er, think we’ve traced them to the residence of the Bishop of, uh, Oxford. The Bishop’s office claim he’s on holiday but, uh, look, we can’t find a trace of him. There’s a suspicion that this might be a hostage situation, er, they seem to be holed up there. Special Branch have been watching the house for the past day, they say the trespassers have automatic weapons. We have troops on stand-by, ready to go in-”
Fuck.
“You were supposed to track them down,” you snap, “and then let me know when you’d found them. Not saddle the fucking cavalry without informing me first.”
“Yes, I know, I know, but they’re, ah, in the Bishop’s palace, old man. It’s being treated as a potential act of terrorism. I cannot conduct an entire surveillance operation by myself, and the officers I put in charge simply deemed it prudent to have an assault force prepared to go in.”

Iacomo wants us to find these guys, but the situation is delicate. We can't call him now because there's a squad of Special Branch guys at the Hunter's doorstep, which will reflect incredibly poorly on us. The reason that they're there in the first place is because they believe there's a hostage situation. The only way to reliably make these guys go away is to convince them that there's no hostage situation in there. I'm not really sure how to do that, but our buddy Humphrey probably owes us a favour. Perhaps he can ring up a few of his contacts to call the team to stand down. Maybe Humphrey can get someone to call in and "confirm" that there are no hostages there, but that the team should keep monitoring them under Horn's supervision.

If we go in to attack them with the Horn's Special Branch operatives, the situation could turn out very badly in a number of ways. If there's a high body count, it could destroy Horn's career and put him under a microscope. It would be a matter of time before we start getting investigated. It would destroy his usefulness as a contact, which would be a shame, since he's such a good one to have.

I don't like going in with our ghouls because I don't want to risk them against Hunters and reveal them to the world. And I think that calling Iacomo carries the risk of having us look foolish.

Flopped to

E

 

[Random Word]

Will Iacomo prefer if we take control and get'r'done or will he prefer that we consult with him ('team player')?

He'll prefer we do both.

E inform Archon Iacomo as is our duty. Then proceed to the Bishop's palace to take personal charge of the operation until our lord Archon arrives. Presence and Dominate should turn the surveilance team and the assault team into loyal minions, ready and willing to let the Archon do as he pleases.

This is a solid plan to immediately take control of the situation in a way that ensures both that we see no premature assaults and no information leaks. Our primary job is containment here - these Hunters are vastly outnumbered and outgunned by our side, if they can't run or hide they're at our mercy. We should concern ourselves with neutralizing any possible means of escape they could employ. Air evacuation is thankfully out of the question, but a sewer or tunnel escape route are not, and neither is an attempt to simply scatter in several disposable vehicles all travelling in different directions which will be ditched shortly after. It should also be assumed they have some kind of large scale diversion or trap planned should they need a quick escape. If they don't, all the better. Scramble Wistman, put them on standby near the operations zone. They'll take some time to arrive if they don't have a helicopter, but this could be a lengthy siege and having an extra resource on hand even if it's never used is prudent. If this operation lasts until sunrise they'll be our only active agents. Should Iacomo decide for some reason he doesn't want to proceed with an assault, or even should we decide the same and have the authority to make that call, being onsite is the most effective way to defuse the situation.

E

 

[oscar]

E

 

[Smashing Axe]

E, if there is any masquerade violations, we should be able to conceivably control the situation if we oversee it personally.

 

[Cassidy]

Lol, hiatus. And suddenly these CYOAs are two-a-penny in the Playground. Yeah, I'm sick of them myself. Fucking LARP shit, we should totally ban everyone who participates in them and double-ban anyone who wastes their time writing them. Or something.

Haters gonna hate. And in any case mine is as ancient as a Prisoner of Ice.

I wanted to participate more actively of this thread but I felt it was a bit on the tl;dr side for me and that I had too much to catch up on the ongoing plot, and I would prefer a Tzimisce or a Malkavian character.



In any case, voting for:

E: Inform Archon Iacomo as is our duty. Then proceed to the Bishop's palace to take personal charge of the operation until our lord Archon arrives. Presence and Dominate should turn the surveilance team and the assault team into loyal minions, ready and willing to let the Archon do as he pleases.

 

[Hellraiser]

IMMA JOIN THE BANDWAGON HERE BROS.

E) Inform Archon Iacomo as is our duty. Then proceed to the Bishop's palace to take personal charge of the operation until our lord Archon arrives. Presence and Dominate should turn the surveilance team and the assault team into loyal minions, ready and willing to let the Archon do as he pleases.

Storyfag's suggestion is a most ventrue one.

 

[grotsnik]

I wanted to participate more actively of this thread but I felt it was a bit on the tl;dr side for me and that I had too much to catch up on the ongoing plot, and I would prefer a Tzimisce or a Malkavian character.

Pfft. If you can't even be bothered to read through 138 pages of bullshit about vampires then you clearly have a full life with many better and more productive things to be doing with your time you should be ashamed of yourself.

 

[Gondolin]

Then proceed to the Bishop's palace to take personal charge of the operation until our lord Archon arrives.

You people do realize that the hunters have probably anticipated this move, right?

 

[Smashing Axe]

Too much paranoia can fuck you up just as much as a lack of paranoia in this world. My biggest fear is that the response team has been ambushed and replaced by the hunters, but it's too complicated an operation for it to merit much consideration.

 

[Hellraiser]

You people do realize that the hunters have probably anticipated this move, right?

And they will do what? Start jumping out of the windows screaming "the power of Christ compels you!" as they're being gunned down by the tactical teams in place?

The huntards are besieged, they no doubt want the "spawn of satan" to charge into their traps. If we keep our distance we're safe. The thing here is what Iacomo does, but I doubt he's foolish enough to charge into the place.

I honestly think we should look over the city plans and find if there are any escape routes out of the place, our contacts should have access to those should they not? Sewers and the like as mentioned. The best idea would be to cut off their escape route and let the kine try to flush them out, hopefully forcing them to take their exit.

How resistant to flashbangs and other typical weaponry used by counter-terrorist units are huntards anyway? Not much I guess. The possibility of a kindred on the inside is what worries me.

The other problem here is a potential bloodbath that may ensue if there is a kindred inside, not to mention a potential masquerade breach (although a swift mind-wipe should fix that, they're kine after all). Have the men use phosphorous rounds maybe? I mean crap it's not like Sommers can't think of a way to make sure they kill hunters and the kindred, some domination a convenient lie and the kine will be as clueless as ever.The issue here is whether the media wouldn't pick up that phosphorous rounds were used for some reason, then again we can cover that up can somehow can we not?

Wait, don't we have somebody with auspex we could use? Or doest Iacomo have it maybe? We could tell if we're dealing with huntards only or with a kindred as well with it would we not? Unless the damn building is too big or the huntards can somehow shield themselves from it. Hell if I know. But we should bring somebody trustworthy to auspex the shit out of the place, if only to make things a bit easier.

 

[laclongquan]

Random Word make a workable plan E.

We inform Iacomo to get some credit. More than likely he will want his entourage to deal with it. It's probable that Turcov want to send his people along to share credit. Let him. Because that's a probable trap and if we dont have to expend our resource springing it, all the better. The Wistman group is a double edge sword to be used in this situation.

Sommers will liase with Kins and make sure everything smooth over. Liberal use of Dominate and oldschool Presenced smooth talks will serve well. The potential for this to blow up in a huge Masquerade violation is huge and cant be underestimated. PLUS, if we establish surveillance outside, we can discreetly follow fleeing hunter(s) to their backup safehouse. THAT"s where Wistman will do most good.

Well okay, I think I can safely change my vote to E.

EDIT: Caution! The fly in the ointment is the fate of Eddie. He's currently command local security for Iacomo, so it's probable he will be sent onto that trap. If so, a quiet word to him about traps will be necessary. Very much so, I am afraid.

 

[Gondolin]

It's a stretch to think that the hunters have simply barricaded themselves in the Bishop's residence with no plan whatsoever, with no trick up their sleeve. I'd be surprised if they didn't expect the enemy (that is, us) to come knocking.

You don't fire incendiary ammo into a building where a hostage is held, FFS. How the hell are you going to explain that? "Well, there was a hostage inside, but we said 'fuck it' and burned the whole place to the ground. Yes, we know the hostage was a high-ranking figure of the Anglican church, but it was worth it. Trust us." Sounds a wee bit stupid.

Not to mention the second major problem: what if the assault fails?

Option F: Call Iacomo and Vogel, tell them to come to the Bishop's residence. Tell Iacomo to bring Eddie as well. The four of you go in and clean the place out, thus hopefully making Vogel look good in the process. If this team can't handle the hunters, then we have a major problem.

 

[oscar]

How powerful actually is your average hunter, vis-a-vis your average 13th/14th gen vampire? Or ghoul? Or kine counter-terrorist unit?

http://whitewolf.wikia.com/wiki/Endowment

Hmm. Sounds like while these guys could be pretty deadly to kindred or ghouls, a lot of their fancy equipment and training would be wasted slugging it out with the boys in blue.

 

[Storyfag]

Option F: Call Iacomo and Vogel, tell them to come to the Bishop's residence. Tell Iacomo to bring Eddie as well. The four of you go in and clean the place out, thus hopefully making Vogel look good in the process. If this team can't handle the hunters, then we have a major problem.

That's not a bad suggestion to make to Iacomo. But it can't be the entirety of our plan. We must take personal control of the siege situation, in order to project the desireable image: that of being in control of kine-related events. That's pretty much all there is to it. Iacomo should be pleased to see that we're keeping tabs on the situation. It would be extremely poor judgement to let things spiral out of control. Should a massive Masquerade breach happen, we'd be held responsible for prompting Horn to look for "terrorists". Therefore we MUST be on the spot to prevent that, or at worst to contain it if it happens.

Also, there's the need of having daytime agents at the spot, as per Random Word's suggestion. I'm not necesserily advocating the use of Team Wistman, but we very much need to Dominate the ranking officer on the spot into total subordination. LATER (months? weeks?) we need to think about blood-bonding someone with enough political clout to enforce our wishes during the day.

 

[laclongquan]

Which is why we are trying to manipulate Iacomo and Turcov into expending their own resources into springing that trap. The only worry in that plan is Eddy.

First rule of hunting, you dont make noise going through the woods, but hide yourself in the trails and wait for your prey walking into your sight. So we are not the preys walking down that trail, but a shadow breathing over hunter's shoulder.

 

[Hellraiser]

You don't fire incendiary ammo into a building where a hostage is held, FFS. How the hell are you going to explain that? "Well, there was a hostage inside, but we said 'fuck it' and burned the whole place to the ground. Yes, we know the hostage was a high-ranking figure of the Anglican church, but it was worth it. Trust us." Sounds a wee bit stupid.

Well they're not going to shoot the bloody hostage with it now? Why would they do that. Have one or two guys packing incendiary ammo just in case there are kindred around. Either way this depends whether or not we can learn if there is one inside before hand.

Like I said we only need the counter-terrorism unit and someone as skilled in the discipline of auspex as we can get. We'll just stand near whoever is commanding the kine squad and whisper orders into his ear with domination. The hunters can't fucking hide, unless as I said they have a way to mask their aura and thus make auspex useless. Knowing their exact or approximate positions and having a floor plan of the building would greatly reduce casualties and increase their odds. Anyway we should be able to pick up the aura of any kindred inside so it should help with that. There is no need to send anyone but the damn kine inside, provided we play it smart.

Unless I'm retarded and auspex does not work that way.

EDIT: Yeah, we need daytime agents there as well.

 

[Storyfag]

Auspex does work that way. But why would you want to shoot the Kindred they've captured is beyond me. He's not in league with them, he's their prisoner. If he's still alive at all, that is.