Let's Play VtM: Wild Nights - Chapter 10

[Esquilax]

Actually, scratch using the video. We don't even need it. Just warn him about the impending coup by nosferatu or phone.

So he looks weak now. And how exactly is he going to look after killing a traitor?

Oh the prince looks weak, he didn't know about a major operation.
Oh the prince killed a traitor baron that lied to him - (just let him use dominate on the fucker).

Looks like balance to me. Plus i doubt the others would try to make him step down then, since it would look like shit, and probably would end with a brawl where he would be killed and their civilized reputation destroyed.

Just suggest to let Erika handle it, so a repeat of what happened with the sabbat shovelhead doesn't happen.

This kind of pressure is the best way to make him move, just give him a out. The question is if the idea of the war came from him, but i doubt it. Public investigation by himself and punishment is the best way for him to save face now.

You aren't supporting your position at all. Your only response to my argument is "so what"?

And no, it's not balance, because the Prince ends up looking like a fool, and we know that his position is already a little shaky. How, pray tell, would telling the harpies advance our position in any way? I've argued that it would do the exact opposite because it would make his already somewhat unstable position already shaky, yet you haven't said why spreading the real story would actually help us.

I also completely disagree with your estimation on him outing du Marchais as a traitor. If anything, revealing that he was fooled into instigating a war with the Sabbat by one of his Barons will make him look like even more of a fool, especially after everyone in town knows that we killed Angelos without his knowledge or consent. If you hadn't decided to tell the harpies that little tidbit, perhaps that would have been an option, but it isn't now. People are going to think "why the fuck is this guy in charge? He's not aware of anything around him". I was only proposing using the video tape as a threat to get du Marchais to do what we want, not actually revealing that Rannigan's kidnapping had nothing to do with the Sabbat. We don't need du Marchais dead, we just need him powerless and ineffectual.

And that, my friend, is why telling the harpies was a shitty idea. Because we've fucked Kirkbeck over, we pretty much have to support Eames now because he's in too fragile a position.

If we decide to ingratiate ourselves with the Barons, I think Erika will be so pissed off and disillusioned with the Camarilla that she'll go Anarch.

 

[SCO]

Speak for yourself, I certainly want him dead.

Humm, you're probably right how it would look like that. Things got kind of confused there - i wanted the story that the harpies spread to contradict the story Eames did.

Besides, who says that the prince didn't know? That he did know, and used that to kick the sabbat would be the narrative, but traitors would not be tolerated.

 

[grotsnik]

Hombres, while I do immensely enjoy your feverish planning, could we please be a bit more focused on our decisions/intentions? Some of you are getting pretty involved with madly complicated plots to be carried out in the next five minutes of game-time that you're never going to be able to get everyone else to agree on, and I think BBC was right; there is now a serious danger of forming a circlejerk so tight that it excludes others. Fuck, we haven't even heard from that anzer chap since he popped his head round the door, or a few others.

(After all, I want to be more welcoming to casual readers in order to appeal to a wider demographic. Maybe it's time to streamline this LP, amirite?)

 

[Esquilax]

Sounds good, it is getting too wacky and convoluted. Let's make this LP more popamole so more bros can come.

Yeah, I guess I pick B. There's a good chance we'll piss off Erika, but hey, we'll make some other friends along the way. Time to climb up that asshole ladder.

 

[Kz3r0]

Besides, all this scheming is a little silly, trying desperately to defend the position of a weakling that in every occasion acted against us and our interests.

 

[Crooked Bee]

As a fan of your previous Lovecraftian LP, grotsnik-sensei, I'm slowly catching up with this awesome LP. Still have about 30 pages left to read through P), so ain't voting now. But I certainly don't object to streamlining if you feel like it. Just be sure to learn from Bioware's mistakes.

 

[Storyfag]

I vote B) Try to ingratiate yourself with the Barons. .

The reason I suggested to leak the real story to the harpies is that I want to see Kirkbeck go down, but I want it to happen without exposing Anthony to real danger.

Now, I think, it's a good time to reveal our info on Rannigan and ruin the Prince's party completely. The other Barons will start baying for Du Marchais' blood, *and* we'll gain reputation of having aces up our sleeves. With luck we will remove Du Marchais from Whitehall, thus removing one of the Prince's few remaining allies. And getting our revenge. And possibly getting Whitehall instead of Rannigan's territory, which rightly belongs to him as soon as he can be found.

 

[Erebus]

B - We aren't going to win over the other Barons anytime soon, but we need to make a decent impression right now. Doing anything else might well offend them and it will certainly irritate both Eames and Turcov.

We need to talk to the Sheriff, but it'll have to wait a bit. As for the Prince and du Marchais, it'll be better to wait until they're a bit more desperate than they are right now.

 

[Kashmir Slippers]

I say B

We would look suspicious trying to talk to anyone by ourselves, and though we just got a sweet boost in power, we should try to suck up to the more powerful barons and get some allies.

Bonus points for acting all chummy to du Marchais.

 

[grotsnik]

As a fan of your previous Lovecraftian LP, grotsnik-sensei, I'm slowly catching up with this awesome LP. Still have about 30 pages left to read through P), so ain't voting now. But I certainly don't object to streamlining if you feel like it. Just be sure to learn from Bioware's mistakes.

Bee!



I was kidding about the streamlining. But...yeah, you know what I mean. Here's a nice pic of Westminster and the river at night.

 

[Murk]

Hombres, while I do immensely enjoy your feverish planning, could we please be a bit more focused on our decisions/intentions? Some of you are getting pretty involved with madly complicated plots to be carried out in the next five minutes of game-time that you're never going to be able to get everyone else to agree on, and I think BBC was right; there is now a serious danger of forming a circlejerk so tight that it excludes others. Fuck, we haven't even heard from that anzer chap since he popped his head round the door, or a few others.

(After all, I want to be more welcoming to casual readers in order to appeal to a wider demographic. Maybe it's time to streamline this LP, amirite?)

Yes, I have basically stopped voting because I can't afford to keep up with the extremely convoluted planning and, to some extent, jargon being used (who the fuck are the Harpies?).

I am basically reading a pretty sweet story. Swagging at 10,000, so to say.

 

[Storyfag]

The jargon is WoD's fault, really. A harpy is a vampire gossip/information broker. Usually a bar/club owner. I'll post the rest of the Camarilla jargon tommorow, if you please I don't think we'll be needing the Sabbat jargon anytime soon.

 

[grotsnik]

The jargon is WoD's fault, really. A harpy is a vampire gossip/information broker. Usually a bar/club owner. I'll post the rest of the Camarilla jargon tommorow, if you please I don't think we'll be needing the Sabbat jargon anytime soon.

Hey, you never know...Anthony could go to bed tomorrow morning and forget to draw the curtains.

But yeah, Mikayel, what Storyfag said - aside from a mention in the Toreador blurb in the character creation page, they haven't actually made an appearance so far, which is why you haven't heard of them.

 

[Orgasm]

What a reward! A still living baron's territory and a Baron title (not yet) granted by a Prince on his way out. And once he and the Law is gone, its open season on fake 13 gen barons. Kekeke.


D) Speak with the Sheriff alone.
Offer a low paying job as enforcer and personal assistant for Baron Sommers.


Why does Fellowes work for us? Whats our history?
How much money does Tony have?

 

[Storyfag]

So, here goes the World of Darkness lexicon:

http://i55.tinypic.com/2dqof8j.jpg
http://i52.tinypic.com/2zjc7jo.jpg
http://i52.tinypic.com/x8vt4.jpg

 

[grotsnik]

Well, he has cash, though much of it's tied up in a few assets - the average Primrose Hill house price was over £500,000 back in 2007, and what with London prices having risen since then, Anthony's home, being close to the park, will be worth considerably more than that. Grateful government members have traditionally paid him under-the-table, avoiding taxes. So...yeah. I'm not saying you can buy the Ark Royal - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12883511 - but you do have ample funds.

Fellowes' tale? He first worked with you as you were trying to make your mark politically in Central in the 60s; you were introduced to one another by Patrick Romney, a friend of your sire's (now, sadly, deceased after the Camarilla infighting in '65), who sent the two of you out on work together. After Romney's death, Fellowes left the city looking for work, but, in his own words, 'finding that the cultural scene outside London was shit smeared across a frame with Arts Council funding', but more likely falling out of favour with the provincials, he returned home in 1981, just as your rise in Whitehall was beginning, and requested employment. He's worked with you ever since with apparent loyalty - though he happily takes other jobs on the side to supplement his income. But there's no way, obviously, of knowing just how far his loyalty extends without actually testing it.

 

[Murk]

Thanks for the links Storyfag, most of this stuff I know but there's still some that's new to me (having never played the game proper, only Bloodlines and minor bits of lore here and there).

At one point I thought abut buying the Book of Nod but gave up when I realized that I will never put it to use and that I should instead focus on writing my thesis.

 

[Sergiu64]

D I think.

 

[Esquilax]

I vote B) Try to ingratiate yourself with the Barons. .

The reason I suggested to leak the real story to the harpies is that I want to see Kirkbeck go down, but I want it to happen without exposing Anthony to real danger.

Now, I think, it's a good time to reveal our info on Rannigan and ruin the Prince's party completely.

Kirkbeck hasn't really done anything to us (du Marchais has, but Kirkbeck hasn't) so I don't get where the hostility against him is coming from. We haven't even spoken to the man, yet we're already plotting to ruin him - it's short-sighted. I figured that handing the Prince this victory would allow him to strengthen his position in the city, gain respect amongst the Barons, and allow him to act as a buffer against Eames' ambitions and her attempts to make us into her puppet. It would also keep Erika around as Sheriff. But with this whole harpy fiasco, I guess that won't happen.

The other Barons will start baying for Du Marchais' blood, *and* we'll gain reputation of having aces up our sleeves. With luck we will remove Du Marchais from Whitehall, thus removing one of the Prince's few remaining allies. And getting our revenge. And possibly getting Whitehall instead of Rannigan's territory, which rightly belongs to him as soon as he can be found.

That's fine, but I need to urge a little bit of caution. Going so far in displaying our talents will only draw insecurity and fear. Killing Angelos was a clever plan that showed how talented and intelligent Anthony was... and it made an entire room full of people see us as a threat to their power. This political game will be even tougher than killing Angelos was, and we really have to think about how others perceive our actions in the coming nights. We need to play the perfect courtier, otherwise these guys are going to unite to take us out. We've gotten a boost in power, but our position is still precarious.

EDIT: Current vote tally, I'll update as more people vote:

laclongquan - D
Kz3r0 - B
Esquilax - B
SCO - ?
Storyfag - B
Erebus - B
Kashmir Slippers - B
Orgasm - D
root - C
Sergiu64 - D

 

[SCO]

Oh fuck it, D.

 

[Murk]

Likewise, D.

using Serious_Business's suggestion, updated (and including my own) vote count.

laclongquan - D
Kz3r0 - B
Esquilax - B
SCO - D
Storyfag - B
Erebus - B
Kashmir Slippers - B
Orgasm - D
root - C
Sergiu64 - D
Mikayel - D

Totals: D 5; B 5; C 1

 

[laclongquan]

Dont lose this chance for furry romance, Voting D NOW NOW NOW!!!!

 

[Esquilax]

I want to pick D because Erika is cool, but that's not the smart choice. Anthony already decided to ruin the Prince's reputation by spreading gossip, so Kirkbeck and the Sheriff are on their way out. Because we've leaked info to the harpies, the Prince doesn't have a strong power base with which he can successfully rebuff Eames and Turcov. If he had this big victory in his hands without anybody knowing the real story, he'd be powerful enough to fight off Eames' attempts at undermining him, but he can't really do that now that we've made him a laughingstock.

Sorry SCO, I hope I'm not sounding too harsh - I would have been more vocal before if I'd known it was going to be included in the next update. I figured that only two people in support of it and one person against would mean it wouldn't get included. This is the downside to that "feverish planning" that grotsnik mentioned and why that chapter where we had an open vote was such a mess.

As for why B is a good idea, well, we're surrounded by a lot of jealous rivals who've been playing this political game a lot longer than we have. In contrast, we just got our first taste of power five minutes ago. It would be prudent to charm some of these people so that at least we can know which of them is most likely to move against us. More importantly, we have a chance to make friends with the Nosferatu primogen. We're going to have people making subtle power grabs against us, and the last thing we want to be without is a spy network to stay one step ahead of our rivals.

Lastly, I suspect that this isn't our final shot at supporting the Prince. Remember, we still have to deliver our ultimatum to Kirkbeck once everybody else clears out. There's nothing stopping us from betraying Eames and Turcov then, after we've befriended the primogen and the other Barons. Basically, use them as a stepping stone, then once the time comes to support the coup, simply turn the tables on them. Basically, the WoD equivalent of trolling.

 

[laclongquan]

That's what my interpretation differs from yours.

I honestly dont think smooching up to them will do much good. Oh, they wouldnt be too hostile and suspcious toward us since frankly we are too small a new fish to worth bother: newly made, in Eames' pocket, lost a lot of assets during the current war. There's not much chance we can forge alliance with one of them in this night. At best we may cultivate some new casual contacts.

On the other hand, contact with Erika now may yield surprising result. Could be bad, of course, since apparently we played right into Eames' hands. Still, Erika will know she can count on us and therefore leave the way open for an alliance. The chance is much better than that with those old fossils.

And above all, I would like to remind you all an old adage:

"Dont be so hasty in making new allies that you trample over your old friends."

 

[ironyuri]

Forgot I hadn't voted yet.

D.