Session 26 - Fractured Peace | Newcastle Requiem

Session 26 - Fractured Peace Apr 10, 2024 13:38:16 GMT -6

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Post by Cassian on Apr 10, 2024 13:38:16 GMT -6

The vampires have just fled from their encounter at the Domum Carnis in the waning hours of January 4, 2005…

Chinatown
11:10 p.m.

Cassian is driving Harri’s new truck. He’s ripped up and famished. All he can smell is the vitae from Jack and Harri in the seats behind him.
Cassian picks up the spear and examines it. It’s in remarkably good shape… and there’s not a smidge of blood on it. He puts the spear inside his jacket.
Jack directs Cassian to Chinatown. Cass cruises slowly along a busy neon-lit street until he spies two hookers. He pulls up to the curb, lowers the window and waves them over.
As soon as the girls approach the vehicle, the vampires perform a Chinese Fire Drill: Cassian gets out and walks straight up to the first girl. Harri exits to get in the front passenger seat. Jack switches over to the driver’s seat.
Cassian uses Compel and orders the first girl: “Get in the car.” She obeys and her friend joins her in the back seat with Cassian.
Jack offers the girls $100 each and drives to a Super 8 Motel with a sign that says “No” (“vacancy” is smashed out).
Harri picks a lock to a room, enters and turns on the t.v. An episode of Kung Fu is on. Jack closes the door and remains outside, guarding.
Cassian pounces on a girl, fails a Willpower roll and enters a feeding frenzy! He kills her and earns a Stain.
The other girl’s screams are masked by the t.v. show. Harri attacks and feeds enough to sedate her. He uses Cloud Memory on her and allows her to walk away.

January 5, 2005
1:00 a.m.

Harri and Cass decide to dispose of the dead girl back at the Haven. They wrap the body in a rug and carry it out to the pickup truck.
The sound of insect wings suddenly fills the air. From a nearby manhole, roaches begin spilling out into the motel parking lot.
The insects climb the motel walls and windows, their bodies forming letters and words: “BRING. IT. TO. ME.” And the roaches dissipate.
Cassian says, “I have no intention of delivering the spear to The Beast. At least not until we know if it’s real or not.”
Jack asks Cassian for the spear. He examines it. As a test, he carefully slices his hand. The wound burns like fire! Jack suffers 1 Aggravated Damage.
The vampires return to their Haven.

The Haven, Marshall Manor, Marshall Campus District
1:49 a.m.

After disposing of the body, the vampires swap the truck for Jack’s BMW.
Jack hunts and feeds in their hunting grounds. Harri decides to sleep in order to heal his Aggravated Damage.
Jack and Cassian head out to visit with Ivan.

Odds & Ends, University District
2:18 a.m.

The vampires find Ivan in his shop. Cassian shows him the Spear of Longinus and relates the details of the encounter at the Domum Carnis.
Cassian and Jack also tell their mawla about the effect of the blade on Jack’s hand.
Ivan examines the artifact: A well preserved iron spear tip with Roman markings on it. The wooden haft of the spear is jagged and broken several inches below the shank. “Interesting,” says Ivan. “Would you permit me to conduct a test?”
Ivan calls Roger in and asks him to extend his left hand. Roger obeys. Ivan slices Roger’s hand… and there’s no effect. “Fascinating. Would you allow me to keep the spear for a few nights in order to conduct further tests?”
Cassian says that many vampires seem to want the spear, including Balthazar and The Beast.
Upon hearing “The Beast”, Ivan quickly hands the spear back to Cassian and says, “If The Beast wants it, then I cannot hold onto it. It is simply too dangerous. That is a weapon. A weapon like no other. It could change the balance of power. Find a way to stall The Beast. He should not have it. No one should.”
Cassian turns to Jack. “Let’s fashion a weapon out of it.” Jack nods.
Ivan says, “I would advise you to appease The Beast… as soon as possible.”

The Haven, Marshall Manor, Marshall Campus District
3:41 a.m.

The vampires return to their Haven.
Jack begins working on crafting a custom hilt and handle for the spear (3 of 5 required successes).
Jack and Cassian sleep for the day.

January 5, 2005
6:00 p.m.

Harri wakes and fails four Rouse Checks. He is ravenous.
Cassian and Jack wake and heal Aggravated Damage.
Jack calls Jack Sr. and there is no response. Jack checks the local museum activity schedule and finds that the Phrenology Exhibit is still underway.
The vampires hunt in the Museum District and successfully feed.
A story in a newspaper on a bench catches their attention: A young couple was found dead in an alleyway in the Club District. The cause of death appears to be an overdose. Their names: Jessie Addams and Cal Swierkot, the two clubbers who provided the vampires with the location of Alanna’s boat haven.
Harri receives a text from Rachel Rierson’s assistant: Have you extended the offer to J.?
Harri responds: J. agrees to call off B. in exchange for RR vouching for us and her cooperation as water security @ Tartarus.
The assistant responds immediately: Ms. R. is delighted to hear from you. Dinner soon?
Cassian texts Hank and puts him to work making more Dragon’s Breath rounds. Lots more.
Cassian researches Cassius Vulpa and Golconda.

10:00 p.m.

Cassian receives an email from Brother Ishmael: The Bishop is demanding to know why Alanna hasn’t been brought to him.
Jack calls Blakely and tells him to “loosen up” on the Ardelinos and to “pause it”. Blakely is confused, but agrees to do what Jack says.
Jack continues working on converting the spear to a hand weapon and gets one more success.

Kellogg Slums

11:42 p.m.

Harri stakes out Nico’s house in a slummy part of town. It’s a single story bungalow. Harri can hear a t.v. inside with The Price is Right blaring.
Nico eventually comes out carrying a large duffel bag. A woman is heard bitching at him… Mom? Wife?
Nico gets in his truck and Harri tails him onto the freeway all the way to the Club District where he parks his truck about two blocks from The Purple Rose.
Harri sees Nico pull out large wooden stakes from the duffel bag. He proceeds to walk up and down the lines of clubbers, harassing a goth kid.
Harri punctures two tires on Nico’s truck and drives back to his bungalow. He activates Cloak of Shadows and enters through the back.
Harri sees a rusty grill, a dilapidated tree house, rickety steps leading to a back door. The t.v. is still blaring.
Harri enters through the kitchen and makes his way to the front of the house. In the living room, he sees a single overstuffed chair and the back of the head of an older female wearing curlers wreathed in cigarette smoke.
As he moves down the hall, Harri smells Ben Gay, sweat, and rancid meat. He finds what must be Nico’s bedroom. Garlic cloves are hanging everywhere and there’s a Bela Lugosi as Count Dracula poster on the wall with a stake in it.
Harri returns to the older woman and bites her to put her in a stupor. He nicks his own wrist, offers it to her and makes her his ghoul (Stain!). He uses Cloud Memory on her and then goes to Nico’s room to break into his computer.
Harri fails to bypass the password. He unplugs the CPU and leaves with it.

January 6, 2005
St. Jude’s Cathedral, St. Jude’s Cathedral District
1:00 a.m.

Cassian catches a cab to St. Jude’s. He is escorted by Brother Ishmael down to the crypt below the cathedral — his old lair. He finds the Bishop waiting for him there.
“Why have you not brought me Alanna?” asks the Bishop.
Cassian relates the details about the battle at The Domum, the loss of Monsignor Viktor, the destruction of Sasha and the Tzimisce, and the reawakening of Cassius Vulpa.
Cassian says that Alanna has been in hiding, healing from grievous wounds suffered at the hands of Masuko and Invictus. But Cass has a plan that will put Alanna and the Bishop together at Tartarus where she will be at the mercy of the Church and the Spear of Longinus.
The Bishop grows angry. “This spear is but a Tremere bauble, and I will not wait for your Tartarus.” The Bishop grabs Cassian’s face violently and threatens him. “You must deliver Alanna Belko to me in three days or I will reconsider your standing as Hand in the Church. It is time to exact God’s justice upon her. This supersedes kindred law, and I grow tired of the Prince thwarting me.”
“It will be done, my Bishop,” says Cassian.
“Good. My beautiful Cassian… You will deliver a message to the Roman. Vulpa is a man of God, after all. Yes… You will tell him that God knows his soul and welcomes him back to the Lancea Sanctum.”
“As you wish,” responds Cassian.
As Cassian leaves the cathedral, he hears the flapping of wings somewhere overhead. A dead rat suddenly splats on the sidewalk right in front of him, impaled with a claw.

The Haven, Marshall Manor, Marshall Campus District
2:11 a.m.

Harri tries to crack Nico’s computer to find contact information. He gets 5 successes and a Messy Crit!
Harri finds an old email chain from “Phillip”:
Nico: Found u on dark web. Let me help.
Phillip: Go away kid. U don’t know what ur saying.
Nico persists.
Phillip: Okay. A test… meet me on October 28th at 10 p.m. @ the bridge to Graves Island. [This is the night the vampires fought on the bridge!]
Harri discovers that Nico has been talking to someone named “Barbara”. Based on the emails, Barbara seems like the real deal. She never gives specifics but has agreed to meet on January 12 in the middle of a shopping mall at noon. Her last email says: Come alone. Make sure you’re not followed.
Harri sends a response to Barbara [Messy Crit]: Hahaha! I’m onto you, bitch. I’ll let Nico lead me right to you. But Harri sends it from his own personal email account!

3:15 a.m.

Jack receives a text message from Jack Sr.’s number: I know it was you. Where is the Roman?
The message has an attached picture of a building under construction with steel beams exposed to night sky and open air. Jack Sr. is seen sitting on one of the steel beams, tied up.
Jack texts: What are you talking about?
The response: Where is he? Tell me or your father greets the dawn.
Jack dials his father’s number and Balthazar answers. “Hello, Jack. You have four hours until dawn. I offer you a simple trade: Tell me where to find the Roman and I’ll tell you where to find pops. Tick tock.” Balthazar hangs up.
Cassian and Harri investigate the crappy cell phone pic to try to identify the location of the building. They succeed in narrowing it down to one of several construction sites downtown.
Jack, Cass and Harri arm themselves with Dragon’s Breath rounds and drive desperately through the downtown streets, searching for over an hour.

4:38 a.m.

The vampires finally come across a black spired building under construction in downtown Newcastle. The building matches the one in the photo.
Jack parks the BMW and the vampires exit the vehicle and scan the floors.
The building is completely dark except for a solitary security light far above on the 25th floor.

The vampires earn +2 Experience.