Let's Play VtM: Wild Nights - Chapter 10

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why do we want to kill karthik again? to suck up to fellowes? he's our employee, not vice-versa. there's other ways to get his favor, if we want to.

B

Why go EXTREME here? What will we gain by killing Karthik and the critter now?

We'll make Fellowes happy. And... that's it.

B gives us time to plan, gather forces, whatever. I lean toward the idea of coming back in force and publicly destroying the creature. Allow Edgar to think he's persuading us, maybe even do it as a favor so he's even more in our debt (even though we would have done it anyway)

We'll have to act quickly to prevent the Sabbat from using it, but that should be doable

Torching the caecilian just to appease Fellowes is really shortsighted. No matter how good a shot he is, or how loyal he is, he's still our employee. If he's as loyal as people think he is, he'll get over it anyway. If not, then he might not be that loyal after all. You can see not torching the caecilian also as a test of Fellowes' loyalty.

Also, the situation can be seen of choosing the lesser evil:
a) the possibility of alienating Fellowes.
b) the possibility of alienating Karthik, who might just as well be more than we can handle if we try to mess with him, and losing the caecillian itself, which is a massive asset if used properly.

C is definitely out of the question. And, between A and B, I incline towards A.

What's all this pussyfooting around Fellowes? If we beat around the bush like this with Fellowes, then we're psychologically incapable of dealing with anyone that even looks funny at us. And definitely have no chance against the Prince, or Du Marchais or anyone else for that matter.

At least root must agree that there is a definite lack of EXTREME in what has been happening up to this point.

Think about it, using our Home Office contacts we could decapitate the whole Camarilla leadership in London if necessary. Have Trentbridge send the Special Branch to raid the bastard's places during the day and take them on a walk outside on the way to Belmarsh. If they turn to ash on the way there, oopsie! And then quietly dispose of the Special Branch officers that were witnesses to the Masquerade breaking the following night, just to tie up the loose ends. If you feel particularily Sabbaty that day, you can just let them live and get on with more pressing business.

EXTREME, I know, but this is the Ventrue type of EXTREME... people, there are so may types of EXTREME, why should we limit ourselves to the Brujah/Space Marines type of EXTREME?

My vote to torch the Caecilian isn't about appeasing Fellowes, that's just a part of it. It's about regaining standing in the Camarilla without resorting to a double-edged sword given to us by a rather untrustworthy faction-neutral trickster who laughed when one of our allies was assimilated into the monstrous thing.

Oh right, also, a rather well known Camarilla agent is with us and is probably going to judge us for our actions -- not sure how zany his Malk blood makes him, nor am I sure of his loyalties, but... well, you get the idea.

I don't know about you, but when someone orders something to jump at me and bite off my face, and fails only by accident killing one of my associates, i tend to get quite extreme myself.

It could be unpremeditated, but in the vampire world, i prefer to think the worst.

I'm pretty sure he will try to use the thing against us, so a deception would be best though.

Think that's a win for 'B', with the caveats of telling Fellowes of the plan to destroy it, telling him Karthik needs to die, and then heading for the Sheriff's office.

Thanks a lot for totting that up, Esquilax! Update to come later in ze day.

Wait, weren't we going to see Eames? I'd like to talk to the Sheriff by phone if possible to tell her about our discoveries, but I thought that we'd be talking to Eames.

Anyways, as a final comment, I think Edgar will gladly take killing Karthik over destroying the Caecilian. If somebody kills your friend, do you blame the gunman or the gun (or in this case, tentacled flesh monstrosity)?

Good point, but in this case I think Edgar is probably equally pissed at/repulsed by Karthik and The Caecilian. Let him deal with both and then you'll have his loyalty.

That's true, Edgar didn't like going into the sewer before we even saw the Caecilian, let alone now. He finds the whole affair unsettling. Regardless, if we're keeping this thing here, Karthik has got to go, sooner rather than later. He's right at the edge of the cliff, just fill him up with dum-dums and shove his fat ass into the pit.

Sorry fellas, I don't see any other way - not just to maintain Edgar's loyalty (though that's part of it), but because I am sure that Karthik will blab about it. He's been a very good source of info, but he's an independently aligned Ravnos trickster who sells info to the Sabbat, removing him from the equation means that the Sabbat don't know about it and that we can still use it as a trap / for political leverage. If we want to lure one of the Sabbat into a trap, we can manipulate Wilkinson into giving them info.

That being said, I am still skeptical of the trap idea. The difficulty is in the logistics of it. I don't see how you can carefully fill a place with explosives with a flesh-eating monstrosity in the same room. Also, I am not sure if this thing will even eat a Tzimisce, considering they're the ones that made it.

The Wonders of open voting.



From update Uno. It does not exactly adhere to the source material and if I had the patience (and time) I would actually use rulers and proper perspective and even colors! But alas this has to do... glass table in case you are wondering

Welcome to the wonders of playing game by community.

Anyway, is this? I go away for 30 hours and still no updates? This better be good, Grotsnik!

+ 1

That or you will meet:

Sorry, this has been clusterfuckish. I did get the Sheriff bit wrong, and I think I may have misinterpreted the intent of some of you as 'tell Fellowes to kill Karthik now, while he's vulnerable' rather than 'tell Fellowes to kill him later'. So with that in mind, if you're unhappy with the first half of this update, just tell me and I'll retcon it - it's not going to have any immediate implications. Hopefully this chapter will be enough to save me from the lynch mob. If not...well, at least I'll die with an erection.

BBC - that is one cool pic. Going on Chapter 1.


Chapter 12 - Dead End


"Well," you say, choosing your words with a great deal of care, "Thank you for the gift, Karthik. And thank you for coming all the way down here to...explain the mechanics of the thing to me. Unfortunately," and you give a little laugh, "we're heading to a Camarilla function immediately afterwards and I can hardly take these creatures with me. I assume I'll be able to pick them up tomorrow night?"

He takes your arm. Your feet shift against the edge of the pit.

"If you cannot manage," he tells you, "I could always drop a few of them off to your house tonight. Special Karthik courier delivery, keh-heh-heh-heh. I wouldn’t want to think you didn’t care for this present of mine. Was it the Brujah? Simply a demonstration, simply a joke; I’ll pay for him, of course."

You slip, very gently, out of his grasp.

"A kind thought," you reply, "but I think I'd rather wait until I have the time to deal with them personally. After all, if one of these creatures were to get loose and break the Masquerade...well, even if it wasn't traced back to me, I'd have the safety of all Kindred in this city to consider."

Karthik snatches hold of your arm, more roughly. You can feel his fingers tightening about your wrist.

And Jamieson coughs. The movement makes the barrel of his shotgun tilt upwards. Karthik's gaze flickers towards him for a moment.

Then he nods, and leans inwards.

"I have given you," he hisses, "a great and powerful weapon. The loaded gun is in your possession. And if one does not make use of a loaded gun, if one leaves it on the mantlepiece or tosses it down into a cupboard somewhere - they have a habit of going off all by themselves, keh-heh-heh. One must always take one’s chances."

He lets go of your arm, holding up his hands mockingly as if in surrender.

You acknowledge him, and turn, away from the pit edge and the horrid, writhing things that lurk below. Karthik is quite alone now.

"I understand," you say. Fellowes catches your eye. His hand snakes down, so fast and so subtle that it’s barely noticeable, towards his belt. “It’d be most imprudent to leave a loaded gun lying about. And one must always take one’s chances.”

You glance back towards Karthik. His posture has changed; his eyes flicker from you to Fellowes, and on to Jamieson and the Brujah. His shoulders are a little slumped, his fists clenched.

“Oh…heavens, really?” he says. He sounds a little tired. “I’m trying to give you a gift, blueblood. You have so many enemies, so few friends…and you want to make an enemy out of me?”

“Oh, don’t worry,” you reply, with the utmost calm. “You won’t be my enemy, Karthik. You won’t have time. Fellowes, if you would…”

Fellowes’ arm swings up; his pistol cracks. Karthik takes a step forward. And out of the darkness to your right, a body-worm leaps towards you, its ghastly bone-teeth extending from the underside of a rotten foot-

“Not real!” Jamieson yells, gleefully, and fires. The blast hits Karthik in the shoulder, tearing through cloth and flesh. He moans, and topples back. The worm vanishes.

You straighten up. Karthik is kneeling, his face bloodied and torn, on the edge of the pit. He raises his hands, slowly, to his face. Several of his teeth appear to be missing.

“Teri maa ki chut!” he moans. “You thtupid fuck!”

“Karthik,” you tell him, “it was your duty to inform the Camarilla that this creature existed. Instead, you chose to hide it, and use it for who knows what purpose, endangering the Masquerade. At any time, considering the…nature of this creature, this might be a crime worthy of Final Death. In wartime, it’s treason. And, as loyal subjects of the Camarilla, none will object that we carry out the sentence.”

The Brujah steps forward, unsheathing his long silver katana. He hands it to Fellowes.

Karthik’s fat face is contorted, grotesquely, with pain and fear.

“Lithen,” he says. “Jutht lithen to me. I know where Rannigan ith. I can help you find him-”

“And?” you reply, unmoving. “Where is he?”

Karthik hesitates.

“Jutht…jutht let me get out of here,” he tries. “Let me get out of here and I can…make thome callth…”

“Not good enough,” you tell him. “I’m sorry, Karthik.”

He tries to sneer at you.

“My people have altered governmenth,” he snarls. “Where unbelieverth thaw only wildernetth, we created a paradith for the prophet and the theerth. Our trickth have thaped the world.”

“And now you’re powerless pissers punchin’ above your weight,” Jamieson says, calmly. “Guess that’s why there’s a ‘disillusion’ as well as an ‘illusion’, ain’t it? Every lie's got to fall sometime.”

Karthik ignores him. His bloodshot eyes rest upon you.

“Oh, I’ll be glad to thee the latht of you fucking Ventrue,” he says. “You think you’re thuch manipulatorth, thuch geniutheth, but you thtick to your fucking Camarilla come what may. It won’t thave you, Anthony. They’ll thlit your throat and thtake your heart the firtht time you theathe to be leth trouble than uthe. At dawn, every one of us thandth alone. Why can't you thee that? Why don't you underthtand that thith could have helped you?”

You nod to Fellowes. He steps forward.

Karthik howls,

“You thtupid fu-”

And then the body of the Ravnos goes tumbling down into the dark, over the edge of the pit. Below, the body-worms are going wild with excitement.

You stroll, casually, up to the pit edge and gaze down. One of the creatures has already clamped itself down onto Karthik’s outstretched, twitching arm. He’s still trying to say something. His mouth opens, and closes. Four more of the worms are shuffling unhurriedly towards him.

“Keh-heh-heh-heh,” you say, to nobody in particular.



*



The top floor of the Windmill, a maroon, self-consciously quaint gastro-pub on the edge of Mayfair, is empty; in the far corner table, sitting in front of the window, Samantha Eames watches a a gaunt, long-faced man tuck in to a venison pie with mashed potatoes.

She glances up to acknowledge you.

"Oh, Anthony, darling," she says, smiling and touching you on the arm. "You, ah, reek of sewage. Pull up a chair, won't you?"

You take one of the comfortable leather seats and draw it towards the table. The gaunt man gazes at you uneasily.

"Freddie," Eames tells him, "this is Anthony Sommers. Anthony, this is Frederick Boulton, our ghoul with the Red Cross. Tell him what you were telling me, Freddie."

Frederick hesitates. A forkful of pie and mash steams, held in mid-air.

"The Sabbat went for one of our vans off Great Portland Street tonight," he says. "Killed the drivers - both ghouls - and got the back doors open. They just...poured all of the blood out into the street. Like they wanted to make a gesture."

He smiles, a little sadly.

"And it turns out that the records said the delivery was supposed to be going to Afghanistan," he adds. "For, you know, the soldiers. So the papers've been calling all night, trying to work it into a story. 'Sick freaks destroy supplies intended for veterans' and so on."

"This war of Kirkbeck's has only just begun," Eames says, sitting back, "and already it's spilling over. He stirred all of us up with fear over poor, dear, Terence, and like fools we were caught up in it. We should never have let him, you know."

She sighs.

"Frederick, darling," she continues, gazing at you, "I can tell by Anthony's too, too-perfect patience that he has something he's dying to tell me. Do you mind finishing your dinner downstairs, with the others? I'll make it up to you, sweetheart, I promise."

She rises to peck him on the cheek as he leaves.

You wait until he's descended, then lean forward, and tell her,
"There's something below Battersea Power Station. A Tzimisce horror. We've trapped it inside to make sure it can't escape - and I don't think the Sabbat know about it. For now."

Eames tilts back her chair as you explain the nature of the Caecilian, and raises her eyes to the ceiling.

"Hell of a publicity opportunity," she says at last.

"Or a trap," you reply.

She nods.

"All right," she says. "You plan it, darling. Just keep me in the loop and I'll give you whatever we need. But whatever we do with this creature - we'll do it together, yah? You brought me the lead, we share the plaudits." She smiles, gently, to herself.

"Deal," you tell her.

Eames seems to be turning something over in her mind.

"Funny," she says, at last. "That's the second time someone's brought up Ogham with me in as many weeks. Makes you wonder how much of it there is beneath the city, doesn't it?"

You lean forward.

"Who was the first person?" you ask.

"Terence," Eames says. Her eyes meet yours. "But then, the funny little man always was getting into trouble he'd have been better off staying away from. Anthony, darling, why don't you come and stay with me for a while? The streets are getting dangerous and we sensible Kindred really ought to stick together."



A) Turn down her invitation.

B) Accept her invitation.



And what's your next move, for tomorrow night? (Phone call's there if you want it.)



A) Arrange, with Eames, to reveal the Caecilian in a publicity stunt.

B) Arrange a trap for the Sabbat (or someone else, if you'd prefer) using the Caecilian. You will have to suggest a plan to get the information to them - this could go through the lower-downs or the high-ups, you could pretend to defect or get someone else to do so, you could plant the information on someone...this plan will take more than one turn to carry out in total.

C) Investigate Ogham in London, visiting the Tremere.

D) Plan for an expedition north - to Castle Howard. This could involve buying up muscle, gaining supplies, investigating its history...

E) An expedition into Chinatown.

I say we should turn down her invitation. There was a grain of truth in Karthik's dying words. At dawn evey one of our kind stands alone.

So A for the first choice.

Then I'd like to call the Sheriff (grotsnik, bro, do we have her phone number or what? She did call us, it should be recorded in our mobile...) to warn her about the fucking invisible cathayan abomination.

Now, considering what dear Regentia Eams told us about good old Rannigan... I'd say we should keep quiet about the Prince's men kidnapping the Baron. Chances are *she* wanted them to get him. But I doubt she arranged the Cathayan abomination to chase him, so we can tell her about that at some further point.

Finally, I think we should arrange, with Eames, to reveal the Caecilian in a publicity stunt. Perhaps even claim the Sabbat wanted to use it in the war? Who cares that they presently have no idea that it even exists. It's not like someone will ask them

So A for the second choice.

Non voting post for now.

But we better recap:

1. We have a current standing deal with Erika, our dear furry Sheriff about the Prince, Du Marchais, and this disapearance of Terrance. She's pissed about this subterfuge. And we discover something since our tete-a-tete: Terrance visit Castle Howard, a place with Ogham runes.

2. We now have a standing deal, must-honor type, with Regent Samantha Earmes, about the usage of this Tzimisce horror. take care that we got the better share of credit in this operation.

3. The starting quest, investigating the disappearance of Terrance, still open with two leads: Chinatown's blurred obfuscated image, and Terrance's expedition to Castle Howard.

4. We are in bad odor with Du Marchais. perhaps he's cool already after our flaterring last night but I bet he's not. Yet moving in with Sammy could be considered jumping ship. She will use our influence with Whitehall as her own tool, but our hope for a barony is lost for the foreseeable future. Stay with him and we still have a chance for a comeback and steal his territory from under his coffin. Sammy look like a very competent gal, which mean a very competent boss. Hard to do that with her or to her.

Current Threats:

1. Dubrik and his vendetta to Sommers. He got a mole, Wilkinson, into our office that we can use as a lead to a trap.

2. Du Marchais. His traps and attacks will be more in the term of politic natures than brute force, I think.

3. Londonium Sabbat. Their attacks are of random nature.

What to do what to do...

Why the publicity stunt to frame the sabbat, do we really want to fuel the war even more, because from what I've gathered it's not really in camarilla interests. I'm thinking the best thing to do right now is try to find out what that quest from china & CO are up to, and maybe use the beast against them, either to get them to fight sabbah, or to thin their ranks without painting a bullseye on yourself.
Also, about that vase or whatever the spymaster is after, why keep it in our home unless we have a use for it and want it within reach. Otherwise why not stash it somewhere no one would think to look, unless it's some kind of magic thingimajigy that vamps can sense.(grotsnik, could you enlighten us, do we know anything else about the item other than that the spymaster wants it, and if we don't, wouldn't it be prudent to find out what it is?)

Because it helps our own prestige?

But on the other hand it wouldn't be good to be seen as a warmonger by Regentia Eames and her ilk... So let's destroy it in a publicity stunt, *without* pinning it on the Sabbat.

publicity stunt is... empty gesture, I think. Kinda like that Sabbat raid the Prince just orchestrate. We need something obvious and real, something that ensure vamps know that is what happened.

A trap to ensure Sabbat loss is, hum, real enough. The problem is not that we mind loss in Camarilla. The problem is that loss, 9 vamps+ 2ghouls, happened without anything concrete achieved. If we make it so in that trap of ours a lot of Sabbat die or some important bigwig like Dubrik or Angelos get singed heavily enough, it will be good. It demonstrate that we are a good tactician, a force to be reckoned with in matter of war. That will reinforce our reputation as the one control Whitehall politically. A spymaster without fangs is not too scary. A real Prince Dracula , now that is different.

Dont mind that Sommers develop some bloodthirsty or warmongering reputation. He need to be feared somewhat or he will get walked over. that could be bad for health and un-life.

Visit Chinatown at this moment could be bad for our health, I think. This war seem to have Kueijin's bloody hands all over it.

For another, what's with Terrance, Castle Howard, and Sammy? If he's in coffin with the Kuejin, why mentioned that with Sammy? If he's not, then it could get very interesting... After he visited there, some blurred thing chased after him and Prince's men kidnapped him one step ahead of that. The place smelled of dark secret. Should we poking our nose in there?

A and C

B (romance! besides, we've been kicked out of whitehall) and D (adventure!)

Nope, not yet! We smooth talked Du Marchais a little so perhaps our chance with him still remains.

B and D.

We do not and never have lived at Whitehall. Our haven is just north of Regent's Park and it is perfectly safe for us to return there. Safer, might I add, than staying with any other Vampire who is not Blood Bound to us. And haven't we had enough of adventure down in the sewers for some time now? We should consolidate what means of advancement in the Camarilla we have, not run from corner to corner!

First choice:

A looks like a nothing choice again, and I hate those. Besides, why not make some new connections?

I vote B. Lets see where this invitation gets us.

Second choice:

A is right out - the last thing we want now is to be seen warmongering. This is why I voted to simply destroy the thing right there and then - quietly and discretely, but we would still get some credit (there were plenty of witnesses).

I'd like to vote B, but I can't think of a foolproof plan at the moment. Rigging the place with explosives and waiting for the Tzimisce to show up sounds tempting, but it would require not only explosives, but also constant surveillance - setting all this up might be tricky, and there is no guarantee it will work - what if a pack of shovelheads gets send in first to test for traps?

D sounds like a great adventure, but I think there is more to learn here before we go there. And yes, we also need to know what is going on with the Kuei-jin, but heading blindly in the Chinatown sounds like a good way of getting ourselves killed.

So probably C. We need more info about what was Terence up to, and it looks like the Tremere have it. We can also ask about the Castle Howard, which will come in handy if we decide to go there later.

You just never read carefully. Our humble abode in Primrose Hill is rarely habituated. We stayed mostly in our office in Whitehall. Read the description text again, da? One should always know where one's power lie. And our power shadowed over Whitehall's politicians.