A Lonely Hope--Scene 12

Scarlet Vampire

A Lonely Hope

Scene 12

In the last scene, Hanson tried and failed to find evidence to unravel Adrian’s web of blackmail. Instead, his scheme to lure the mortal police into a direct conflict with Dona and her followers resulted in death and a near rupturing of the Masquerade so necessary to keep the vampires safe.

It had been three nights since the raid, and the city was still on edge. The raid happened near dawn, and there was little the vampires could do to mitigate the disaster. They had their allies and their pawns to limit as much damage as possible, but police officers were dead, and no amount of political pressure would ease their fury. Or the media’s thirst for a good story. And police officers in a gun battle with “drug fueled cultists” was just too good of a story to be buried in section C9. Everyone needed their pound of flesh. So, a pound of flesh had been provided. A few heavily dominated drug addicts and a convincingly appointed “Satanic lair” helped. Some subtle dominate and a hot new story about some teen popstar having an affair with a married movie star got people looking the other way again. But despite all that, the city was on edge. Even the slightest push could crack it.

A Lonely Hope--Scene 11

Scarlet Vampire

A Lonely Hope

Scene 11

Hanson has failed to intimidate Marko, Adrian’s inside man. Instead, she needs to head to Adrian’s haven, a converted monastery, and recover the tapes that are the key to his blackmail.

Hanson sat in her Camry, watching the old monastery. Trying to think of how to get in, and how to find the tapes. Her thoughts, though, kept going back to Marko. Why the tapes? Assuming Adrian was even halfway competent, he of course had duplicates. Maybe he wanted to verify exactly what they said. Maybe there’s more Kindred trapped in the web, and he wants the leverage for himself. And if that’s the case, should she give them to him? She wasn’t sure. It probably depended on what was on the tapes, and how many people were affected. Not that it really mattered. Until she had the tapes, this was all theoretical. And finding the tapes was going to be an issue all its own.

A Lonely Hope -- Scene 10

Scarlet Vampire

A Lonely Hope

Scene 10

In the last Scene, Hanson was able to track down an ally of Adrian’s, Percy, who gave up some key intel. The prompt for the next scene was

Sabotage a tool, evidence, or ally of the foe so that it betrays their attempted use of it.

Ok, so, Percy gave her something good, and Hanson is going to try sabotage it, to expose Adrian’s shenanigans to the wider vampire world. Now, I just need to figure out what exactly it is that Hanson is going to try to fuck with, and how said fucking will expose Adrian. Time to turn to Mythic!

One of the reason I like Mythic so much is its ability to not just answer yes/no questions (a feature most of its derivatives have), but also “complex questions.” So, I begin with the question of “What asset of Adrian’s is Hanson now aware of?” 99 Oppress 98 Fame Thinking about this for a moment, I decide that he has been blackmailing a notable Kindred. Since the key is “Fame,” this isn’t necessarily a powerful vampire, but one that is well known and well liked. Whatever blackmail material he has, I assume it would be something very, very bad that he discovered either directly (perhaps this vampire was once a part of his little “church”) or indirectly (via one of his “congregation”). Vampires, of course, don’t really care that much about many things that humans would consider a “crime”—but actions such murdering another vampire or creating a new vampire or anything that violates the Traditions is an option. So, who is this vampire?  It could be someone we’ve met before—Conservation of Detail and all that. On the other hand, getting this intel was pretty rough, and that implies that it’s something Hanson didn’t know before. So, I set the odds to 50/50. 63, No. So, someone we haven’t met before.  I could go to the Random Vampire charts, but I think I’ll go with the U.N.E. Habitual steward whose motivation is to refine the church, achieve the wealthy, and secure ghosts. I then go back to Mythic to try and fill out some more details. Is this character a vampire? [Very Likely, 85%] 19, Yes. What is this characters “sin” (7 Tradition traditions, so I roll 1d7] 7 Destruction. He killed someone he shouldn’t have. Is this “sin” related to a character we’ve already met? [Likely, 75%] 33, Yes. Which character? We have the following established characters: (1) Dona, (2) Blaine, (3) Cora, (4) Samuel, (5) Sophia, (6) Gypsy, (7) Percy. I again roll 1d7 and get 2--Blaine.   Is it Blaine’s sire? [Very Unlikely 25%] 20. Finally, I turn to Covetous Poet for the final details. Action: 726 Punish Thing: 431 Last Will Plot: 100 Bad Partner Opposition: 29 Evil Businessman Location: 426 Hidden Chamber Long story short, Adrian knows that Marko, Blaine’s sire, has killed a fellow vampire many years ago. The two of them were allies and coterie mates, but Marko killed him in a fit of jealousy and rage. He then blamed the killing on the anarchs of the city. In fact, the vampire in question was named Thomas, and was a childe of the Prince. When the Prince heard of his death, he launched a series of reprisals against the anarchs, a purge that none of them have forgotten. If either the Prince or the anarchs heard of this, Marko’s life would be short lived.

MoMj: The Corruption Saga - Session 14

Having finally seen the true danger of Rulla, Deirik, Eirik, Ygvard, and Boldulf, with their friends Kiro and Sergei, immediately race around the longhall. Eirik uses his woodworking skill to brace the larger barn doors on either end. The other men throw debris and wood planks against the other doors and barricade the windows. They grab dried goods and any kindling they can find an pile it up near one of the walls, planning to burn the longhall as a last resort. It's not long before they can hear the screeching, croaking, and growling of the Fell as they make their way through the town and come just outside the longhall.

The Men make their way to the upper level and look out the large window at the scene: it's one out of a nightmare. The entire town is crawling with undead. They hear a gentle rattle of one of the doors downstairs, as if the Fell were expecting to be able to open it. It's immediately followed by a more insistent rattle. Then, other doors begin to shake, as the growling outside increases in volume. The Fell are realizing they're not alone.