Darkness Unvailed

Carthian Mekhat

My name is Paul Betrand…Well that is what my parents named me at least. I was born in 1980, May 7th to be precise. I do not know if me being born in the same year as Ronald Reagan is why I feel the way I do about so many things but it could, and we will get to that a bit later…
I stand about six foot one and weigh about one hundred and ninety five pounds. I have reddish blond hair and green eyes. I guess I am attractive… Never any trouble getting laid at least… I am pretty fit and pride myself on staying in shape physically and mentally… My training in Kung Fu has gone quite a ways in both those areas…
I was raised by ex-hippie parents. They are sell outs. They taught me all of these things about protest and collectivism and civil rights and equality and that the capitalistic principals of our nation make for poverty and racism (do not even get me started on Republicans) but as soon as a chance to live the “GOOD LIFE” came around….. Never mind that…. Let it be that they now live in a very nice home in the Hamptons…. But I played their politics against their guilt and rode the money all the way through school, college and Law School. You know they never hurt me or neglected. They gave me all that I deserved and then some. I never suffered any tragedies (despite the abandonment of my parents’ core principals). I am the epitome of the normal 90’s school kid. And according to one prof. I had, with the right influence I could have been the next Ted Bundy. (If he could only see me now huh?)
I finished dead centre of my class from the NYU law school. I probably could have finished higher but I spent way too much time rubbing elbows and schmoozing. Got me what I wanted though. I made some nice connections and right after I graduated and landed a job with a firm associated with the ACLU. (The true protector of freedom if you ask me.) I took almost all of my cases on Separation of Church and State and the rest on gay discrimination cases. Rumor has it that the Right-Wingers call me the “Pretty Boy Persecutor”. Supposedly I am a bit to rabid for their taste. Well hey the guilty hate the facts do they not?
I must admit that I have a propensity to be a bit of a mad dog. And demanding. An ex of mine has called me sadistic, ego-centric, and possessed of a streak of self involvement. You would think she could narrow it done a bit. A friend of mine once told me that he thinks I am gay. I am not (not that there is anything wrong with being gay) I maybe a metro sexual but not gay. I am very hetro in my tastes if you follow me there. I like my women. Yes my women. If you want to be involved with me you had better be ok with being my woman. If you come expecting hugging and kissing you are in for a bit of a surprise. I like my play rough and my sex even rougher.
I have a hard time with loyalty. It never gets me anything. If I ever do become loyal to some one though it is forever. If I call you friend…..You Are My Friend, count on it!
I do not want to say too much about my embrace or my sire Dianna. Suffice it to say we do not always see eye to eye on many issues. But damn she is hot and knows how to work that body if you know what I mean.
If you had to ask I am a Carthian and Mekhat. Mekhat by default and Carthian because the rest of the lot are too committed to old ideas of domination by tradition. Fuck that and fuck them. To Hades with the status quo. I want power in the hands of those who deserve it. The people!

Ventrue Invictus

Gracey was born and raised in Queens, NY. She had it pretty good growing up. She has always had a lot of friends. When she was 17, she went to Italy to visit her grandparents for the summer between her junior and senior year in high school. When she was 20, she moved to Minneapolis, MN going to work at the Mall of America for a glamour shot studio. After about a year and a half in Minnesota she moved back home to Queens. She worked to save up for college, eventually gets her money saved, and moves to San Francisco, CA where she goes to college. She majored in photography, and was a cheerleader for the 49ers. She also had a job working for a Catholic church taking pictures of weddings, funerals, and other church functions. She belonged to a Pentecostal church though. She has very high morals, and to this day, she is still a virgin.

Mekhat Invictus

Thomas finds himself using the time that he has been given to indulge in what ever project that currently hold his fascination. He has always searched for the truth in religion as he holds that there must be something greater out there. He has already been proven right once in his life when he was brought into the darkness. Spending all of his time within books has had some draw backs as he does get much respect from those around him and with the error of bring Hannah over he has had to try twice as hard to show his usefulness to the new order in New York so as to keep himself and her safe. This has lead him to make some very bad deals with the “wrong” crowd. This is not the first time this has happen to Thomas as for a long time he was a member of the Carthian Movement and only left after he found that the movement would no longer let him look into what his heart really wanted. The Invictus leader at the time told him that this was the main problem with those rebels; they could never chose a direction and stay with it. This made Thomas uneasy with them and started the move to the Invictus for him. Those shortly after her left the Carthians he found that the rules of the Invictus were harder to follow but at lest they did not change decade to decade. Though this move left him with out much support in the city it also left his estranged from his only other passion Stacy. He had brought her of into the night a short time after himself to have some to share his thoughts with and help him move forward in his research. They did have many years in which they both flourished, he had to keep moving in on his goals and she got more and more into the movement.

Makhat Carthian

The first chide of Thomas Huntly she has not had an easy time of it. As soon as she was embraced Thomas found a calling in the Invictus and left the Carthian movement and Stacey. This never set right with her and thus left them leading very different lives. Stacey has continued with the Carthians although she can not seem to get very far into the movement after many years of work. Many in the movement remember Thomas leaving and don’t want to have Stacey repeat his history. She tries hard to show her commitment to the cause by bring in new members at every chance, but her failure to bring in her own chide has made even this seem to be a wasted effort. Though Hugh was not turned to become a member as his talents are not condoned by the movement they have always seen the need for such people in the company. Her first chide was the perfect choice to add to the movement though a bit on the unstable side after the embrace. Joan was very good at what she did. Mainly getting the attention of everyone around her and not letting go. This served the movement well until the old prince took a liking to her and decide to have her for himself. Taking her away from the movement took a few years, but Jacob got the job done. This alone would have been enough to make Stacey go off the deep end but, to have Joan spy one the movement though their relationship was too much. Shortly after the defection Joan got a suntan and though no one could be blamed on the record Stacey knew who she blamed. Hugh and Stacey got a free pass do to the power change in the city. Though this change was something Stacey thought would be a good thing as it brought Jacob down a peg what could be so bad. Soon her resentment of Jacob waned as she started to see what Vern was about as he started to show just how much he hated the Carthians in the city. Stacey doesn’t see Hugh too much as this would only make things harder for him she does make sure that he stays with in the rules and does not make too much of a trouble for the rest of the kindred in the city. Even at this many of the elders in the city see him as something to be squashed to keep from having more of his kind show up.

As the title states I have not even begun on night eight yet although I have put down some interesting ideas to start night nine off with. I do have hopes that this will be the spark needed to set fire to the group and start the story moving in a way that make them interested in it.

Ok so I took a few days off to rest my wrists, sue me. This night we got some more hooks out there and a few mysteries added to the mix though it wasn’t planned that way.

We get there and have to wait for the last player to show up. He had to make an unexpected stop to help some one on the side of the road who had car troubles. The pain of living in Minnesota. Everyone gets settled in and I start the game like normal having them awake from their daily rest. A couple of quick feeds and off into the night we go. Victoria thinks that there could be more information on Robert’s computer and goes digging into it. (A great roll with her Computer + Intelligence and I need to come up with something quick.) I filling in some of the blanks that I had left last week and gave her some more information about her sire’s business dealings, throwing in addresses that may matter later. An address to a bar that will come in to play later in the night and in the game hopefully. After a phone call to James to discuss the information she found she has the bright idea that she wants a copy of all the e-mails that he gets and forwarding a copy to another e-mail to hide the fact she is looking at them. (Damn should have made that roll harder for her.) (I also finish giving out addresses that others had found to fill in more of the blanks that I had left. Though I do make a few mistakes on the continuity of the information that I give at this time it gets corrected later in the night.) This leads James and Victoria to get together at the bar address from the information. Gracey and Paul talk some about the information Paul got from his contact. Paul pawns that off until later not wanting to repeat himself for the rest of the group. Christian and Hugh talk about what to do for the night and end up waiting to see what ideas Paul has for the night. Christian talks to Paul and gets some of the information out of him. Gracey has been call around trying to make amends for leaving the other night. After a lot of talking Paul, Christian, Hugh, and Gracey all plan to get together so that they can help quell Paul curiosity. Victoria and James arrive at the bar and figure out that this is were they meant Hugh. They go in to take a better look around, to find that the crowd is not that different from the last time. About this time the limousine starts its rounds to pick up everyone who is still at home. With some more investigating they find a locked door that doesn’t seem to belong were it is. They check it carefully, smelling gunpowder, Victoria then picks the lock and they proceed to go down into the basement on the bar to find a firing range. As they enter the range the others enter the bar. Using a “taint” check all but Gracey enter with out a problem, though Paul does go back to bring her in. Though do to the timing Victoria and James disappear into the basement shortly after the other enter so they can’t find were that “taint” feeling came from. Paul, Christian, Hugh, Gracey, and Hannah stay in the bar looking around at what is in there. Gracey finds the dart board and starts to try to convince the two drunks to let her play. About this time they are looking around at the range and decide that they need to talk with Hugh about this place. They head for the bar feeling the others James was a little hesitant about enter the bar until he hears Gracey’s voice though the door. Hugh tries to keep Gracey from causing a scene in the bar by talking her out of it. Christian using Dominate tells one of the guys to let her play as Paul just tries some go old fashion intimidation on the other and they give Gracey the darts and go off drinking. As James and Victoria enter the bar they say some hellos and ask Hugh out side to talk. They get outside and he tells them that this is a place that he comes a lot to blow off steam. This NPC that I had added as a lark the night they meet Hugh makes another showing. This was one of the things that had brought Paul back to this bar. (It is just something to add some fun to the game and who knows on night she mite end up dead.) James, Victoria, and Hugh enter the bar again to get the rest of the group to take them to another place to look for some clues. After a short decision they all go out side and fight about not taking the limousine to this other address as it would draw a lot of unneeded attention. They do end up in two cabs and make their way to the address that ends up being the building were Hannah’s haven is. (Though Hannah didn’t know it was her place until I spilled it to her after they were there and thinking about breaking in.) They get to the address and start to take a look at it and mention that they may need to break in and Hannah pipes up with why don’t we use my key. They all stare at her and she goes you never asked. They enter the building and go up to Hannah’s haven take a quick look at her place and then have her show them to her Thomas’s haven on the top floor. Hannah takes Victoria to his place and she picks the lock and enters the apartment and heads straight for the office and the computer to check it out and see what she can find. Not finding too much she sets-up another e-mail forwarded and leaves it alone. (At this point I really start to think that I should not have sent them the link to THE CHRONICLES OF MICHELLE at http://www.forumchronicles.dk/ . That damn gazebo keeps popping into the conversation.) They start to talk about going to break into yet another place, but time is running out. (The game night was just about over, so I didn’t want to start too much.)

Every one goes home in the cabs and they are safe for yet another night. I do answer a few questions as to how XP gets awarded and used. Then we talk about when we mite do D&D next and if the other vampire players would like to play that. With a little more chatter we all collect our things and head for home.

In further efforts to get caught up with the game I am going to try and get this out quick. Again not every thing stays in the order that it happened, thou I do try and keep it close.

We all meet for the gaming night and chat for sometime and then get down to the business of playing. They all awake from there daily rest and start with the chatter. From with in this they decide to meet up and go over what they have found so far. Paul sends out the limousine to pick everyone up. (Damn Limousine.) As they pick up Gracey, the last of the group, they start to talk over what they have found and been told that they need to do. They go over all of the information that I had given Gracey from the files and what Victoria discovered from Robert’s computer system. As some of the information over lapped they made a plan to go and check out a warehouse that Victoria “owned”. This was not whole heartedly accepted by the group, but it was something to do so they all went along with it. The limousine pulls up in front of the warehouse and every piles out and goes over to the closest door only to find it locked. They all start talk to each other about how to get in as Hannah steps over to the lock and picks it quickly. (Who would have thought the school teacher would be the best one a picking locks. The only thing scarier was the fact that her player got involved in the game.) This prompts the crew in to entering the building. I have them a do a “taint” check, and of course Gracey has to be the one to fail it. Gracey goes running back to the limousine with Hugh going after her because Paul told him to go get her. Ass I am telling them of the other vampires with in the warehouse, Victoria gets the bonus of knowing that Robert is in here with them. Gracey of course doesn’t want anything to do with going inside of the warehouse. Paul gives Gracey a call, not paying much heed to the feelings that he is getting, to tell her to get out of his limousine. She does this as Hugh gets to the limousine and starts to try and get her back into the warehouse with the rest of them. A short struggle later and Gracey is calling a cab to get away from this place and Hugh start to head back to the ware house were the rest of the group is now being held by some very unhappy elders. (See the “Meeting of Donald Riddel, Robert Bonnell, Riley Corgan, and Reed Veits” for more details.) Robert tells Hugh as he is about to enter to shut the door thou the dominate fails just be told is good enough for Hugh as he shuts the door. The cab for Gracey shows up, as she getting in she yells a Hugh to see if he wants a ride, Hugh declines the offer preferring to wait for the rest of the group. After a little conversation and a bit of a hug the elders let every one go with the admonishing that they do not look any further into the power struggles of the New and Old prince. Gracey take the cab to a club to try and sort thing out. Once at the club another vampire was already there she tries to get nearer to this one to see what he is doing, but he always stays just out of reach. After this little walk around she decides to go home and call every one. These conversions go over poorly as every one basically blows her off and is pissed because she left save Hugh who does not care one way or the other. This is upsetting to Gracey as she wants everyone to be her friend. The group has at this point has given up on the whole go on a mission thing and thinks that it would be great idea to just travel around the city looking for something else to do. As this degrades into idle banter I hurry the night along and they all retreat into to their havens for their day’s rest and another few safe hours of unlife.

There ends yet another night of this game. I am just waiting to see what happens next time….

Ok, I am going to try and get another one of these nights out, soon I hope to be caught up with the game so these show up shortly after the night we play them on. So here we go…

On this night every one was at the game and we start with them awaking from their daily rest. (I like this way of starting as it gives the players a little time to settle in to their characters.) I as start by giving everyone the information that they found last week, that I finally figured out not that it was all the complete it was a good start. They also found out more about their sires, not that it was real complete. Paul and Christian have some discussion over the phone about what to do with the body they “found” yesterday. Gracey called Victoria to see if she had any plans for the night or here something from Paul. Hugh was bored do to having nothing to do so he heads down to a firing range to indulge his interest in firearms and explosives. Victoria starts to go through her sire’s computer to see what has happened to he money in resent times. About this time Hugh’s player gets informed about what happened last week. Paul feeds some more, by playing with his food in his “study”. Invites Christian over about this time James gives Paul a call to invite him out to meet with his contact from the city and a club called “Born Free”, not that they find out this name before they enter to talk with this contact to give him the information from the blue prints that they found yesterday. Hannah figures that it is time for her to relax in her hot tub. While Gracey thinks watching TV would be fun. (This to me is a good thing they finally know that these characters are people and have lives.) When they enter the club I give them a short description of the place that includes the fact that the place is heavily populated by males. (I wish that I could have done it with a straight face. Though it did cause a short laugh session.) James tries to explain that this is not the normal meeting places which Paul doesn’t buy right away, but slowly goes along with it. Victoria calls James shortly after he made to the bar and tells him about some addresses that she found on her sire’s computer. They take a seat in the club and wait a short time for James’ contact to show up. As soon as James’ contact, Kelvin, shows up James make apologies to him for Paul’s behavior, of course Paul is a little defensive about it, but lets it slide for now. Kelvin being less then enthused by his job, figures that he can get to it tomorrow. James orders a drink for Kelvin and sits at talks for awhile. Gracey calls Paul abut this time and wants James to give her a call. (Though it may have had more to do with OOC, it did have some in game reasons.) Paul calls Hannah to hear a female voice he can stand and makes some comments that are offensive to the club patronage. Kelvin makes note of the apology made earlier and leaves the table. This gives people in the club reasons not to like him any more. Christian spouts out so off comment that would make some one of that persuasion mad and gets smacked for the trouble. James goes to the “bathroom” to get away from the table. This sets Paul off with some more comments that get the attention of others in the club and the floor manager comes over to the table to tell them “You’re out of here.” This doesn’t impress Paul, so he continues to sit there as the three bouncers show up at the table. Two of these guys pick him off of his seat and start to drag him out. Paul of course finds this rather unsettling and fights back. The last one hangs by the table for a short time until Paul starts to get the advantage in the ensuing fight. This brawl goes through a few stages of Paul pushing them around and then the bouncers team up on him all time moving Paul closer to the door. I give James the chance to hear the cops coming, he does and starts to try and talk Christian and Paul who is still fighting the bouncers that is time to leave. They do make it out of there in time not to be caught by the cops. While all this was going on Hugh has progressed to putting C4 on the targets instead of just shooting them, and Gracey had gone out for a walk. While in the limousine James starts to chastise Paul about his behavior, Paul makes excuses. Gracey’s Player thinks to ask if she can walk to any of the address from the files and told her no. (More do to not having ant thing in mind for any of them then the location.) Christian calls Gracey after he gets dropped off and finds out what was in the files and that they should meet to go over it the next night. Gracey then calls Victoria, Hannah, Paul, and Hugh to set up a time to meet the next day to go over all of the collected information. Paul and Hugh start to talk about what to do with the body, Hugh first idea is to blow the body up. They all set it up that they will meet up the next night. Gracey and James finally talk and James rips into her about how she could have passed on through the other people. Paul drops off every one he has in the limousine and heads home to talk with his sire. Dianna give him the march orders to find who is trying to help the old prince back into power and tell him to mull this over.

Every one takes the daily rest and is safe for another few hours of their unlives. It was a short game night that we got a lot done in. I found my self hopeful that the game time will start to be used better.

Till Later….

So, here it is: Another wonderful gaming night! Well, Hugh didn’t make it this time – had something to do with being the “best man” at a wedding in Las Vegas. Anyway, we start them off at home, just waking up from their daily rest. A few more of them decide that it would be a good night to feed. Victoria, Paul, James, and Christian all feel it is time to go on the hunt. I give them their respective rolls and tell them what they get. So now, with that over, they all decide that going back to the office building would be a good thing to do. So there goes the limousine, out and about, to pick every one up and take them back to the office building. They all waltz right in and go up to the meeting room that this all started in. They all start to look around the office. (Wits + Larceny) This let them find the hidden filing cabinets and they gained what little information there was, off of the desk blotters. A quick Dexterity + Larceny check for one of them to pop open the file cabinets and Intelligence + Larceny or Intelligence + Investigation, which gives different information. The Larceny roll could produce other information sources. Those needed an extraordinary success that no one got. They discovered files on various people, including their sires, a few other key players, and some building blueprints with addresses. (See NPC page) This was good enough for most of them, but Paul decided that he needed to do one more thing . He enlists the help of Christian and heads for the basement, as the rest of them take files out to the limousine. Once down there, they grab the body that has held some fascination for him and drag it out a side door to the limousine. Into the trunk it goes, which makes the others in the limousine ask them what they think they’re doing. He placates them with something to the effect of “it’s my limousine. If you don’t like it, walk!” In the limousine, they talk a little about what they found in the office. (What little I could tell them as I did not have much of that information ready, yet. Does there seem to be a pattern forming?) They head for Paul’s place. When they get there, Paul find his sire, Dianna and asks if she knows who the body is. She informs him that it is Jeff Orbrock, the prince’s first childe. Then, she goes on to tell him that he needs to take care of that trash. Paul asks Christian to help him move the body into the garage to hide it. After that, they all go inside to talk some more about their findings at the office. James calls in a favor from one of his contacts (City Engineer), to see if he can discover who the owners of the blueprints are. This, of course, leads to leavening a message, due to the time of night. Gracey talks the rest of them into giving her the files, so the she can read them over. (I still don’t have a clue why this worked, but hey – I’m just a storyteller.)
We run out of useable time in the evening, so I “call it” with them all getting rides home from the damn limousine. A little chatter later and we head for home, ourselves.
’till next time.

Here, again, I will make a note that, due to my laziness and lack of a good memory, some events may not been in the order that they actually happened .

Ok, they are all back for some more. This is the first night that everyone was at the game, although the newest person, soon to play Hugh, didn’t have his character done. This is, of course, all my fault as I was unable to take some time and drive 20 miles to finish up with him, one-on-one. We start the game with him working on his character sheet and the game being very distracting to him and me. We just finish the sheet by the end of the night.

To start the evening, in the game, Gracey calls Paul. With the little disagreements that Gracey and Paul have been getting into, Gracey is trying to get Paul not to be mad at her. Paul takes most of what is said and twists it into the context that he wants it to be in (invitation to him to have her in whatever way he could think of) instead of how it was meant to be – an attempt to start a friendship. Paul sends the limousine out to pick up Gracey. As the limousine is on its way, I try to get the others involved in the night. Hugh wants to feed due to rolling a three for starting blood pool. I ask them what type of feeding they would like to do, fast and messy, slow and enjoyable, or the pain and suffering method. (These each take different skills and get different dice pools. In my stories, feeding is really simple in game play, I do this because if I don’t, I spend a night role-playing seven feedings. I make an error with how many blood points they can take, due to playing V:tM too much, and tell them 6 should be about two or three, I still have not made that correction in the game.) He finds one victim to feed off of and I let it go at that. (Later in the game, feeding will become more of an event, but I am still trying to get them to role-play normal activity.) Other than that, no one seems to want to do anything, so the limousine picks up Gracey and takes her back to Paul’s. The conversation goes downhill at Paul’s, but they do find some common ground. Paul goes and gives Gracey little pat on the ass as they walk out to the limousine to pick up the others. Victoria looks around her haven for her sire and finds he is not around. Shortly after that, the limousine shows up at the house. There is a quick exchange and the door, then on to the next house. Hannah gets a call from Paul as the limousine arrives at her haven. Rinse/wash, repeat for the rest of the group. (Damn limousine!)

This is the end of the gaming night, due to too much OOC rambling. The next game night starts.

So, now they are all in the limousine and head somewhere. Well, since the driver has the choice, he pulls up to a small bar – a dirty, dingy hole in the wall that confuses Paul as to why he would go into such a place. The rest of the group gets out and goes into the bar. As they enter, they all make a taint roll. Christian fails. For effect, I sent him across the room to Hugh who is just sitting at a table minding his own business, when (smack!) Christian put his fist into High’s face. Hugh, being stunned, just looks at him asks what he is doing. (Composure roll, pass.) Christian finds himself enough to apologize for hitting Hugh as most of the group makes their way to the table. Paul stayed out on the floor more to better observe the bar. Gracey takes a seat at the table, while Christian, Victoria, and James just stand by it. Gracey asks a few pointless questions, I throw in a little distraction about a chick checking out Victoria. After some talking, Hugh decides to go with the group back to Paul’s sire’s to talk over some plans and to get out of this place. (Aptly named “Shit Hole”) When they arrive back at Paul’s sire’s place, they gather in the living room. Gracey opened her mouth and started to make the wrong words come out and set Paul off. So while the others watch the news and talk to each other, Paul drags Gracey into his “study,” a nice room with chain and leather motif, Make contested rolls all the way into the room and then into the cuffs. (Yeah, sick and wrong, but it is what it is.) After causing Gracey some pain, Paul sends her off to a bathroom to clean up, and Hugh to another to have him clean up. Paul goes off and looks for his sire to see what is going on for the night. I take Paul’s player off to another room to make talking with his sire private and give the others some time to talk to each other. The sire chat goes off without much information getting out. .(Still getting everything straight in my head and finding a few more details to twist into the story.) Unbeknownst to the storyteller, the rest of the group gathers around the TV, flipping through channels to decide what to watch. They pause briefly on the golf channel and try to explain the “sport” to Hugh. After being unable to explain the concept to him, (Hugh doesn’t understand why the balls don’t blow up or kill livestock with them) they resume flipping channels. So, by the time I get back into the room, they have decided that Gracey had gotten cleaned up and was back in the room, acting like a scared kitten. Victoria and James rip into Paul about his treatment of Gracey, Christian gets in a few words and Paul starts to make an attempt at an apology and Gracey takes it for the effort – if not the sincerity that it was said with. This made it late in the night and it was time for everyone to go home. (Limousine rides all around again. I really do hate that damn limousine.)

Well with a little chatter, we all head home for the night. Hopefully, it will not take me another week and a half to get out night four.

Ok, time for night two of this little ordeal of ours. Some events might have changed places, as I could not find the order of them happening on the recordings and I am trying to go by the in-game nights, not the play nights.

We arrive at the gaming location and do the weekly life update. Although this night was a little different, as one in the group had his birthday the day before. There was a nice meat and cheese tray on the table, as well as a tin of mixed nuts. Last time we had played, I was totally unprepared for the game. This time, I had a start on some ideas that could be interesting during the game. The characters all gather at Paul’s sire’s home, via the limousine. (I am starting to not like that choice. Later, it starts to show how bad of a choice it was.) They talk about the fact that they have not seen their sires for a few nights (That’s my fault for not having them ready). Then, the choice is made to go back to the office building and investigate the explosion that chased them out of it, yesterday. They return to the building and find it intact. They all enter and start back to the office where they had the meeting. They take a quick look around and find little that seems out of place, in the office. Most of the group; Paul, Gracey, James, Hannah, and Victoria, head downstairs to see if they can find the source of the explosion. Christian starts to wander the halls on the upper floors to see if he can find anything. (He will not, because I have little idea what else would be there). After looking for a while, he heads back down to the limousine.

They find themselves in the basement were they can hear some work being done. They search it out and see a couple of welders repairing a steam line. They sneak by the welders, to look in the area for anything else out of place. They get to the end of the hall where there is another set of stairs leading up and out. (As marked by the EXIT sign.) James (The one person who has played some V:tM in the past.) tells everyone to be still and quiet. He then activates “heightened senses” and takes a look around. James notices that a door in the hall seams to be out of place. They all wander down to this door and Paul is the first to barge in. (Paul and James both do a Predator’s Taint check as they enter, and pass.) They enter and find a storage room with a staked vampire in it, along with some boxes. James starts to look around the room and finds some evidence of a fight. Paul calls out to Victoria and Gracey to come take a look at the room. While they make up their minds to come into the room, James has found a few boxes with addresses on them, taking note of one that is from a residential area in town, with a familiar name and a piece of cloth with M M written on it. Victoria enters the room. (She passed the roll.) Looking around, she does not see much, other than a beat-up, staked, vampire. Gracey attempts to enter the room and starts to run away, screaming (Rolled Failed), down the hall, drawing the attention of guards (Er, I mean – welders. I kept calling them guards during the game, when they were, in fact, the welders from earlier.). Well, James takes off after her, the other two try, but aren’t quick enough and get caught by the welders. Victoria glares at one of them and commands him to sleep (using dominate, of course). This guard (welder) goes into a dazed state. Paul jumps the other guard (welder) and proceeds to beat the piss out of him. Before he kills the poor guy, Victoria yells to him that they need to go. They meet up with Christian, James, and Gracey at the limousine and head on out. In the limousine, James tells them about the address and the cloth, so Paul has the driver go to that address.

At the apartment complex, James gets out and looks at the buzzer panel. He finds one with the name he thought he knew, M. Manson, and got buzzed in without a word. He goes to the apartment number and checks the door. It’s unlocked. He enters the apartment just in time to have some young lady start screaming at him. With a few quick words, he backs out the door and goes down to the limousine. They head back to their havens, via the limousine, and while doing this, they talk about what has happened to them, so far.

Ok, that’s one more night down; a few more to go. At this rate, I might get them done before we stop playing vampire. 🙂 . Still kind of wordy, though. I had hoped to compress more, but I still like including as much detail as I feel does justice to the game.

Donald has become fond for Christian’s little trips out to the local bars. He sees the potential in the contacts that he makes there, but he wishes that Christian would forget about his old life as it seems to be holding him back from the bigger things. Though Christian has taken to the Invictus, he does not seem to be a fervent member. The first year has gone by now and he doesn’t seem to have moved on that far. The more time he spends in these places the less time Donald has to show him the business. This may start to be a problem if he does not find a spot in the business he will not have anything to stand on while Donald is away, but being young and unconcerned with the long time ahead. That is very attractive way of “living.” Christian has not always seemed to be such a good choice for Donald. Christian when he first was brought over, wanted to go back to his old life and try to keep others from finding out. He is after all, the owner, so if he sleeps all day and is working all night no one would get suspicious of him. That was Donald’s first hurtle, to show him that going back was not a wise idea. Christian got the message, but still missed all of the interaction that being in a bar gave him. Now he is a frequent visitor to many of the clubs that Donald owns. Donald was not sure about Christian doing this until Christian started to make suggestions about how to make the places bring in more people. After that Donald saw that Christian was going to be useful and tried to make watching over the club Christian’s job. Christian was not going to have that as he already knows it loses it appeal after it became that only thing in your life. Donald continued to look for a place for Christian in his business and still does not know were to fit him in. Without knowing were to place Christian, Donald does not want to give him too much access to the rest of the business.

Knowing that the New Prince was going to be trouble from the start, Donald and Robert had made a few moves to ensure that he did gain the power that should go with the office. Riley and Reed had been keeping an eye on things that Donald and Robert couldn’t be seen watching. Riley and Reed had just started to make their report when someone entered the warehouse. This was supposed to be a “safe” place to meet up, where no-one would know that they all were talking to each other. After controlling the flash of anger that came over them and with a little more calm, they all went over to find out who could have discovered them. Before they even came into site of the newcomers, Donald and Robert knew that this was not going to be as big of a problem as they first thought it may be. Setting the plan quickly and quietly, they jump the intruders, leaving only Christian standing without someone keep him in place. The one who must have led them here was flat on her back and told to stay there. Whether it was the Dominate or just her sire giving the order Victoria never even tried to get back up. Donald decided to give Paul a little “hug” to remind him that, though he spurns his sire and the Invictus, not everyone is willing to let him goof off with the Charthians forever. Now that we have them, lets find out what brought them here, though Robert thinks he already knows. After a few questions and a little more pain for Paul, they get something a little unexpected. It seems that Dianna wants to move up a little farther while getting in the new prince’s “good graces”, and sent these punks to do the dirty work for her. Well, that explains why, after the little disturbance at the meeting, which we sent them to, they all started to go off together. Rummaging through all of the files and taking some was probably a foolish idea, but it does give them some information that may help them survive if they continue down this path. Though, in sending them on their way, we do tell them to drop this little exploit of theirs. After they leave, it is back to the business at hand with a new outlook at the information that they already had.

Mekhat Charthian

Judy clawed her way up fast as the youngest covenant leader in the city. She had to earn the respect of many kindred in the city and she has, as much as any carthain could in this city. The old prince was not letting the movement move, so a little passing of information to take him down a peg shouldn’t have been so bad. The new prince, though, has turned into her worst nightmare and she is working hard to keep any more of it from becoming reality. Her gift for her favor to the new prince was nice, but hasn’t had the effect that she had hoped for, and with so many other new kindred around, it is hard to see if he is getting anywhere.

Just finished reading it, I hope that they will keep up and improve and the story that was in there. I see where there could be a lot more conflict erupting in future books. Also I would like to say I think highly of the styling of writing in first person and giving that point of view on each event in the book from more then one person. It gave me a nice feel for the characters and I hope that it continues in the rest of the books.

Well, after a few nights of play and a few nights in the game, all of the PC have met and seem to get along, for the most part. There is always the one exception to that, though.
First Night
We get to the game site and everyone does the “meet and greet” with those they don’t know already, short one player due to schedule conflict and starting the game 2 weeks earlier that expected. I had done some work with getting everyone a character before hand. I asked them to write up a background for the person that they wanted to be (Mortal. Those are now posts for you to read on the main site or earlier in the blog). Then, I gave them a sheet to start the “filling-in-the-dots” part of the process. I did assign clans, in which I took over the responsibly to make up sires (I was going to do that in the two weeks I did not get). I gave them their choice for covenant from Invictus, Carthian, Ordo Dracul, and Unaligned if they could tell me why the character would go that way. We took care of this before the first night, for most of them. I have five players who have RP’ed before. Three of them in V:tM and one of them that has been in AD&D games, but does not seem to play them much. The other is the DM for the AD&D game part of the group that I have been playing with (Having played AD&D with her). Also, one piece of fresh meat – soon to be two. That will take the few weeks that there was suppose to be.
I, the ST, lost for anything better start off, tell them they have been vampires for a year. Informing them that they have an order from their sires that they need to attend this meeting tonight (to get the PCs in one room) at some building, that I have no clue what address it is going to be. Of course, everyone being nice to the poor ST, goes along with the meeting idea. Therefore, I have them all arrive separately, talk them though going up to the meeting room and tell them what the room looks like. As they come into the room I have, the others describe their character to the newly arrived. (Things are going too well.) They all sit down and have a little chatter. (This gave me time to decide “what to do next” and they knew it.) I have a light come on and send in a NPC (That later becomes the sheriff.) to talk with them. (I hit a brick right after I have him walk in.) He does a “Hello, you’re stupid” type of maneuver and tells them he has something to take care of quickly and says he will be back, soon. (Well, that was some time wasted.) I let them talk to each other some more (Some know I am stalling; some do not.) then, have them make a roll. (Light came on a little brighter this time) two of the characters succeed the roll (one of them being the DM, the other – someone who has played V:tM a bit) to hear what sounded like an explosion. (Later they will find out differently.) They stare at each other (FUCK) (Then the light starts to brighten more.), the fire alarm goes off. This gets them all moving. I had let one of them have a limousine to drop him off, so that picks them up and they all go a club that one of the characters frequents (Thank God for players that think once in a while, for me). This gets to be fun as earlier I had them roll blood pool and the newest player only got a three. Before they get there, though, they need to do some shopping, to spruce up their appearance. (Some people were not dressed up enough to go to the club. It’s a large club with lots of bodies – this IS going to be fun!) This went well for them. On the way to the club Paul pulls out some bottled blood, (Ok it’s a stretch, but for the first night I was lax in what I would let them get away with.) spiked of course. Paul takes a sip, as does Christian and so does Gracey May. While Christian and Paul are fine with it, Gracey has some issues with it and downs the bottle, getting a little loopy in the process. We get to the club and suddenly Paul (The one with the limo.) wants to know the driver’s name (Crap!), I tell him he does not use his name. (I do not have one and I was at a loss for one, it ended up being David.) That was enough for right at that moment. Paul greets the bouncer and is allowed in with no problems. So they all enter and get a short description of the place. Some of them decide to take up a table at the back of the club. Paul (The DM.) and Christian (Played V:tM some but not much.) decide to go up to the bartender and order a drink. (They are doing so just for looks.) (Well it is time for that hunger check [CRAP] she passes, nothing there.) Paul asks if the boss is in (I had a name for the bartender: Chris.), the bartender says the boss is busy. They pick up the drinks and scope the room. Back at the table, someone decides it’s time to dance. (She was at least trying.) Gracey Mae asks if any of the others at the table would go dancing with her and gets a resounding “Hell No”, so she starts to make her way over to the bar. (Here comes that hunger check again, passed again.) (WTF?!) She finds Paul and asks him to dance, he says “no” and looks for someone he “knows well” (I roll to make up my mind, he finds two), so off he goes. Gracey decides that it would be just as much fun to dance with the club décor as with any one. This gets the attention of the people at the table who, work at and finally do, bring Gracey back to the table. (Hunger check, passed again, {note to self, check her dice. CRAP! She is using some of mine}) Paul plays with his two friends and then comes back to the table. (Note on what “plays with” means. The character has stealth 3 with a note that is for use inside the city, popping in and out of crowds and such. He made the roll I called and popped up behind the first one and was acting kind of possessive {read the background for more info} of her, to the guy she was talking with and, kind of, scared her.) I tell the players it is getting late their characters had better head back to their havens. (One last hunger roll to get some action out of it. Holy shit! She failed!) I call a roll, for the others to notice. Two do. They go over to get a hold of her. She fights and, of course, that draws the attention of the others. They manage to control her long enough to get her into the limousine and to a back ally were some poor homeless guy almost is killed. (Gave her a WP roll to control how much she drank. I AM nice, sometimes!) She starts to get back into the limo and Paul decides he has had enough (I call a WP roll that I will regret latter) and hauls off to hit Gracey. (Call another WP roll that he passes this time.) He stops hitting Gracey and lets her get in to the trunk of the limousine, as she is pretty rank from the bum she just had. (Some spice to the story.) Every one gets home and leaves numbers with every one else so they can talk to each other.
The end of the game night one.
We all chat a little bit about what has happened so far in the game while we get ready to leave for home. Everyone decides to play next week instead of playing D&D. Well, that meant a lot of work for me, but hey, it’s a game and it is a lot of fun.
More to come later, but my wrists say it is time to stop for tonight. Will go into day two next time. Maybe I can get it done in a few less words.

Mekhat Unaligned

Hugh was born and raised in a small town in Alabama. His mother, Stephanie, died due to complications during childbirth. He was an only child. Because of this, Bubba feared he would never find true love, so he simply gave up hope. Instead, he concentrated on making others as unhappy as he was. He bullied his way through school, later becoming one of the finest patrons of “Uncle Larry’s Timber Tavern” (the local bar). While having made several visits to the county correctional facility for numerous minor felonies to include, but not limited to OUI, public intoxication, public urination, criminal trespassing, minor theft, and J-walking; sometimes all in the same night.
He is now in his forties and lives alone with his beloved dog, Cuddles, a pure-bred, registered pit-bull. His hobbies include studying firearms and explosives, building bombs, and blowing shit up.

I’ll never forget what my daddy said to me that day. I was three years old when he told me, “Never let anyone push you around!” or was it, “When push comes to shove, hit back?” Anyway, WHAT he said wasn’t as important as how he said it. My daddy wasn’t a brilliant man, but he never took any shit from any body. He passed away soon afterwards in an accident involving a chicken, a farm tractor, and an empty bottle of beer. [Trust me – you DON’T want to know!] After that, I was forced to move out of the trailer, by the Dept. of Human Resources, was placed in a group home and put in school.

School? School was a fuckin’ joke! After several years, I was kicked off the rugby team for unnecessary roughness. Apparently, there was some confusion about a pass I caught and ran into the end zone. They said they never found the ball in the end-zone, but they rushed my teammate to the emergency room for severe head trauma after they removed him from the end-zone. I still don’t understand what the fuss is all about – he’s been eating solid food for the last three months, now. It’s all good.

Several years after that, I found myself working in an Army surplus/gun shop. I learned all I could about firearms and explosives. It was there that I found my deep passion – Demolition! I found a lot of work in the “Big City,” blowing up buildings, setting charges in the quarry just to the north and anything else I could find to blow the shit out of.

Since then, I’ve spent most of my time in the gun shop. Oh! Did I forget to mention Bob Finley, the owner of the gun shop, was killed in a controversial accident when his propane tank exploded and he was burned alive inside his house? I am comforted to know that he probably died of smoke breathing before the skin melted off his bones by the 2000+ degree heat of the flames. At least he didn’t suffer.

When the fire was put out, they found his Last Will and Testament in a fireproof safe that stated that he was leaving all his belongings to me, because I was the only family he had. Boy, did that ever piss off his sister in New York. He also left me the code to his hidden underground vault, where he kept all of his “special” firearms. So, I rebuilt the house with some of the money he “left” me and have lived there ever since.

Mekhat Carthian

I am a rather unassuming figure. As you see me, I stand about 5’11 with short brown hair kept neatly dressed and clean shaven, and can usually be found wearing a dress shirt of some sort and a pair of pressed khaki pants. I think my figure is one of reasonable shape, roughly 175 pounds, and athletic to some degree, some people just call me a techno geek.

I should be just about 35 by now, but there was a flaw in the design, or maybe it’s going accordingly. At one time I was a graduate student pursuing my Masters in Political Science in upstate New York. That came to an end as well, a story for another time perhaps.

I spent several years traveling the world, seeing the sights and sounds of the world’s political stage, also developing a deep satisfaction and respect for the freedoms that America gives, but also a festering hatred for the political structure of the Mekhet I had been made.

One night last fall, I found myself in New York City. A whirlwind of activity was being planned in preparation for the 2004 Republican National Convention. I had always felt that Republicans held true to my belief system, and if GWB had more of a spine, and not just tried to finish what Daddy couldn’t do, we would have more respect, but what do I know. Being a rebellious liberal I was prowling the back edges of the crowd looking more for some companionship of another kind than a discussion on socialist humanitarianism.

I found myself in the arms of an absolutely gorgeous blond named Judy Lone, and we found ourselves a dark corner off the end of the stage. Before I knew it we were wrapped in a heated embrace. Little did I know that the word embrace would come back to haunt me forever.

I awoke the next morning with a very strange ache in my chest, and an empty feeling all at once. I realized that I was not at home almost immediately, but it took me a few minutes to become aware of my surroundings and that I was not at my hotel either. I padded barefoot around the apartment, looking for anyone to tell me what was going on. I came across Judy in her study, and was relieved at first, until I caught the bits of her phone conversation about havens, sires, a prince?!?, and I think she said Mekhet, whatever the hell that is.

She sat me down, and through the door appeared a rather brutish looking fellow she only referred to as Hank, who didn’t speak but his body said a lot. I looked at her quizzically, and she began a long and complicated tale, explaining that I had been made a vampire, a creature of the night in the strictest sense of the word. Needless to say I was in shock.

As the night wore on I came to understand the political structure of a completely different world, in particular the Mekhet.

Jumping forward through the past year I have become familiar with my surroundings and am now a driving force for change in the clan, a Carthian Movement poster child of sorts. I see room for change, good ones too.

Ventrue Invictus

Background story

After his parent died in a car accident when he was 16, Christian dropped out of school and ran with a local street gang for a year. When he held his best friend in his arms watching him die from multiple gunshot wounds after a fight with a rival gang. He decided it was time to go back to school and straighten his life out.

He left California and moved in with his grandparents in Carson City Nevada to finish high school. In his senior year he met and fell in love with Violet Price, a girl born into money. After graduating, they married and moved to Lansing Michigan where Christian found what work he could for four years while Violet attended MSU to get a business degree.

From there they moved to Minneapolis Minnesota to live the life they’d always dreamed. They opened a dance club and named it “Lost in the Mist.” The club was a big hit and drew a large crowd nearly every night. A year later, their twin daughters, Jennifer and Stacy were born.

Five more years passed before Violet decided to leave Christian for a lawyer she met at the club. After the divorce, she moved with her new boyfriend to Texas and left Christian with nothing but “Lost in the Mist.” He converted a storeroom into a small living space for himself and now he struggles just to keep the place open.

Ventrue Invictus

Background Story

I never knew my parents. They died in a car crash when I was under a year old. My aunt and uncle raised me. Although my parents were dead, I had a very loving family environment. My aunt and uncle were childless, so doted on me. They sent me to the best private schools and then to Yale, where I majored it business.
My parents vacationed every year in Europe and had left me with my aunt that fateful year. They were in Switzerland when my dad lost control of the car sending them over the side of a mountain. My aunt doesn’t talk about my mother very often, as she was my aunt’s favorite sister.
We haven’t heard from the oldest sister since the day or the funeral, oh so many years ago. When I got out of collage I got a job with the firm of an old family friend. I don’t hate it, but I can’t wait until I can get out of it. I am not sure what I want to do, but I know my heart lay elsewhere.

Paul found this beauty one night on the town and his path was set. Of course, she was just out for a drink. Paul caught her off guard with his good looks and relentless style. Slipping into his mind, she found that he had more usefulness than a one night toy. So, knowing that he could help move things along, she took the risk and showed him what real cruelty is. Shortly after the change of leadership took place in the city, a favor was repaid, making them safe. She takes care of his needs and he lets her live a little more. Though they both “see” other people, it is mostly to show up and hurt each other

Mekhat Invictus

Thomas finds himself using the time that he has been given, to indulge in whatever project that currently holds his fascination. He has always searched for the truth in religion as he holds that there must be something greater out there. He has already been proven right once in his life when he was brought into the darkness. Spending all of his time within books has had some drawbacks – he doesn’t get much respect from those around him and with the error of bring Hannah over, he’s had to try twice as hard to show his usefulness to the new Order in New York so as to keep himself and her safe. This had led him to make some very bad deals with the “wrong” crowd.

At a late evening field trip to a historic church in New York, Hannah was spotted by Thomas, who had just been informed of the leadership change and his payment for his part in it. There was something he needed someone’s help with, but not anyone would understand his need for an answer. She looked like a good prospect, but he did not quite understand her. It was too late to go back as he figured out what a big mistake he had made. After a quick clean up job, done by a friend of his, he set his task to make her as happy with this life as he possibly can without stopping his search for answers. He hopes that as she leaves her old life behind and that she will start to be interested in his odyssey.

The “go-to guy” in the past – he has been starting to be a little more lax in recent times. The job has been getting to him, seeing more and more how the corruption is too deep to root out. There are the other things that have started to happen also, the strange things he sees have started to seem more and more reel to him. The narrowing fact that there is more out there, has started to consume him.

Montello Investigations

(New Prince) Daeva Lancea Sanctum

Vern has always looked for more power and had a great belief that he would get it. Now that he has what he thinks he deserves, he wants to make sure that no one can take it away. He has tried many ways to gain this power before, but this time it is his. Though he does have some changes in mind, he has to take it easy as not everyone around him agrees that he is right.

Gangrel Unaligned (Hound)

Known for getting the job done, Bobbie is not a force to be reckoned with. Staying outside of the conflicts of the covenants, Bobbie makes her own way in New York. Enos has a soft spot for her as she seems to know what needs to be done without being told. Though sometimes it is a bit messier then Enos would like, he won’t deny the results.

Nosferatu Invictus (Sheriff)

A large black man with an imposing stature and a way of commanding respect without a word or action. One of the few still in power after the New Prince took over, he has remained there due to all of the respect shown to him by the elders in the city. This has caused some friction in the current state of things. He is not in favor of the changes as he is afraid that the LS will start a cleansing of the city that will endanger men he still cares about in the vampire community. He also knows the laws that have been set forth and sees no need for any of them to change.

(first chide of old prince) Ventrue Unaligned

Still without a center to guide him, Jeff has let Jacob down too many times, but, as with most firsts, Jacob has a soft spot for him and hopes that he will come around in time to take over the city when it is time for him to rest. With the stepping down of Jacob, what little idea Jeff had about his future is now gone. This sent him into a tail spin that lead him to smart off to the wrong group about the new prince. Enos and Bobbie showed up just soon enough to keep Jeff from getting a sun tan.

Ventrue Ordo Dracul

Leader of the order in New York, Amelia has had many trials to make it through. The change in leadership of the city has been of great concern to her as the new prince has shown a great distain for the Order in the past. The new members to the Order also concerned her, as they don’t seem to be as dedicated as she thinks they need to be.

Gangrel Invictus

Knowing everyone’s name does have its advantages in the kindred world. In the recent power changes, Dawn was given a step-up in the status department. With the new prince leaving the post and needing someone to replace him, Dawn got called in. Unfortunately, her newfound status has come with a price, as the new way of doing things grates on her more and more.