Mayday Plays - Vegas by Night, Ep. 15 - "Fool's Gambit"

Episode Date: March 12, 2023

The Coterie regroups and makes their final moves before the arc comes to an end. We've got merch! https://ko-fi.com/maydayrp (t-shirts and stickers) Thanks for checking out our channel! We offer a bunch of art, music, and behind-the-screen access, including Vegas By Night 1-on-1 sessions on our Patreon; https://www.patreon.com/maydayrp, including access to our discord server! We started as a podcast! Listen to us @: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/mayday-plays/id1537347277 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5vdTgXoqpSpMssSP9Vka3Z?si=73ec867215744a01 Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/mayday-roleplay Here are some of our other socials; Twitter: https://twitter.com/maydayroleplay Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/maydayrp/ Website: https://maydayroleplay.com/ Thanks for your support! Broadcasted live on Twitch -- Watch live at https://www.twitch.tv/maydayroleplay

Good evening, Kindred, and welcome to Vegas by Night. Mayday roleplay is Vampire the Masquerade Chronicle. It is amazing to be in front of you here on the penultimate episode for this season, for this arc. We've had so much joy, so much happiness. It's been a once-in-a-lifetime experience for myself to be able to tell this story. We're so glad for all the people who have stuck with us through all of these episodes, and we look forward to giving you guys a great finale on our next rendition. If at any point you have missed out on any chapter of Vegas by Night, don't fear. You can still check it out on Spotify, Twitch, VOD, and our YouTube channel as of right now. If you're wondering

how you can get more Mayday in your life, you can catch our stream here every other Saturday for our main show. You can follow us on all major platforms as well as Spotify, SoundCloud, for podcast-friendly recordings of all our major shows and streams. And finally, you can donate to us on Patreon and join our Patreon Discord. The Discord is really where we've had the chance to build a great little family around content we've put out. We've had patrons who have joined each other's games, played in some host by themselves. We've struck up the doom-to-repeat Deadpool now that Season 3 has begun recording, and we'd like to leave little cryptic messages of who's dying each week. We've started a thread

concerning a patron's campaign set within Cthulhu's terrifying yellow-marked universe and spent some time helping to torture their players. We just dropped the early viewing of our Valentine's special of Visigoths vs. Morgoth. We were able to step back into those characters, and I got to put back on my ears in furry tail for that rendition, so if you get a chance, check it out. In addition to all that craziness, you get an opportunity to listen to exclusive Patreon content and behind-the-scenes information. We'd like to give a shout-out as well to our handler-level Patreon contributors. It's because of their involvement in our content that we can begin thinking about all the huge things we want

to do with this project. To give you a tangible way, you've helped us. Recently, I had to redo an audio issue concerning my mic, and we were immediately able to dip into our funds to bring a solution to all that, and that's because you guys had our backs, and we were able to fix that because of you, so thank you so much. Direct thank yous go out to Onk, to OGPan, to Bimblewarts, to Cameron S., Eric A., Jonathan M., Ren, WTF, and Alex Johnson for your support. Thank you. Caleb, I'd like to quickly interject and also thank TrashBandico and Medsva who are in the chat. We're doing this at a different time, and they're so kind to join us and Medusa. Okay, excuse me, Medusa. Now I see the spelling of it. By the

way, you guys are awesome. Thanks for being with us here. Yeah, they are for one of them. Really? Five in the morning. Oh my god. Wow. Thank you for being here. We'll try and live up to that. We will not, but we'll try. We're going to wake you up. Yeah. Other than that, we'd love it if you check out our Delta Green campaign doomed to repeat in anticipation for season three. It's award-winning. It's fantastic, and we took home LA WebFest because of that season, so we'd love for you to be able to check us out. Our fantasy campaign centered in the island world of Ashoka, where Eli crafts a world so brimming with love, it leaks into every recording. And our old world of darkness campaign using the Orpheus system with the one and only events from Black Project

Gaming Fane, all of which are available on all major podcasting platforms, YouTube and our Twitch. Finally, we just want to give love out to our last member, Vince, who's on a little Mayday vacation, who he's coming back so very soon, and we're so excited to see him. And we may even get a chance to see him in person, we're hoping. So God bless. Maybe we'll get some photos when he comes back into town and sees Hollywood. But it's so great to have him with us, even if he's far from us right now. We love you, buddy. We can't wait to see you come back. Before we get started today, I just want to remind everyone that Vampire the Masquerade can be a dark setting. And as such, there are content warnings for any watching. Please be advised that there may be violent themes,

plenty of adult language, and the exploration of, we'll call them darker subjects. Please take care of yourself and be aware. Things to watch out for this episode in specific our corpses, a fear of drowning, trypophobia, the fear of bugs, arachnophobia, and depictions of homicide. Other than that, please take care of yourself and enjoy the show. We're going to get started. Humanity was cursed. And because of that curse, some saw fit to draw firmer declarations of set and side. Theo Bell was the most recent to set an explosive line between himself and the Camarilla. Originally, a loyal archon of the Ventrue Elder hard-stat the younger. Theo made for a name for himself and his righteous execution of purpose. He was undoubtedly one of the sex most accomplished

guard dogs and was celebrated largely for his willingness to answer even the hardest orders. He was long believed to be the de facto example of a new Camarilla, of the next line of elders, and was so beloved by his keepers that he was invited by their side in nearly every instance. Until the Convention of Prague, one of the largest international meetings of the Camarilla in our kind since the sex initiation. And in the wake of the exposure of kindred kind to the mortal world and the creation of the second Inquisition, the greatest of the Camarillas minds meet in a single forum to discuss who's to blame and how to rectify the world. In the midst of this arguing, the Council led by hard-stat moved to blame the Anarchs and their kind for their meddling

within the world's government. It's then that the leash about Theo's neck snaps. He and every last Bruja in the room make a stand against the sect, a volatile vitriolic admonishment of the ivory tower and every brick that made it. Theo, in one swift motion, admits hard-stat's last sentence slings a shotgun barrel to the ventrus chin and fires two rounds of dragon's breath ammunition through hard-stat's decaying brain, ending his final death. The Bruja revolted immediately, detached themselves from the parasite and declared themselves Anarch with the sling of a Molotov. Prague burned at the beck and call of Theo Bell, and the tower learned something of these new horizons. They would be navigated without the

help of the revolutionaries. We will decide for ourselves what side of the line we stand on. We will try desperately to ignore that we made the line ourselves. We will lie and insist that this fight lives on longer than we do. And should the fighting end, we will pick up the ruins, rearrange them in the new image of the survivors, and live in peace for as long as it takes to draw a new line. We will toil with ourselves, blaming each and every monster for our own wrongdoings. We will find any reason why it never had anything to do with us, and all the while this world will continue to burn around us. This curse will move further to the heart of where our souls used to live. You will fight, claw, and bite each other until there's nothing left.

All the while never realizing that I'm coming for you. Nevertheless, I am. We will kill our darlings. Welcome to Vegas by night. The more you know. So, I was just given incorrect advice that may lead to mustard gas. Please be wary of what your friends tell you. I think that's right. I think they got it. I'm sorry. Don't listen to Zach on any cleaning advice. It's free. So, in lieu of a recap, since the last two episodes of ours have been very weird pre-recorded piecemeal episodes that we had to put together because of some scheduling. Very quickly, last episode, we left our engine, our new generation inside of the Hikata Mansion, where we had Allison, some levels above the rest of the group in the lobby

of this massive tombstone-shaped building. Allison went on to explore the levels of the mansion in search of what they believed was the key. Unaware that the key had unfortunately previously been put somewhere else, but their journey continued regardless. They ran into a situation on the stairs where they realized they could hear through the walls a conversation being had. Upon further investigation, they found a collegiate individual discussing a book with the Countess, the woman they had seen previously in that mask with the skulled visage underneath. Upon this investigation, the collegiate man left and had a private conversation in the hallway with none other than Champagne Pudinesca, the ghost of the Hikata, the son of a whore. This conversation quickly

became semi-violent and Allison vacated up to the next floor. Downstairs in the main floor, up arose an Enoch elected to have a conversation with Junior, Shlomo Rothstein Junior, the head of the Hikata family, at least it seems for the time being. In lieu of the knowledge of the location of Shlomo Rothstein Senior, this conversation was led towards the reason for coming to the Hikata mansion, the offering of shared help between the Camarilla and the Hikata. They learned that the ritual had already been performed some days previously, but that there was still work to be done. Junior gave the engine an opportunity to be put in his good graces. There was a rogue member of the Hikata family, a La Mia bloodline, also known as the Gorgons, of which he said had

been causing trouble within Vegas instead of accepting the invitation to this their reunion. In exchange for information regarding the ritual, as well as the location of Shlomo Rothstein Senior and the location of Dino, the Ravnos Premogen, engine agreed to take on this mission and hunt down the La Mia. Whether that will be happening, who's to say? Engine has always been so good with their promises in the past, right? Who knows? I just realized you're saying N, gen, engine? Yeah, I hate saying the words new generation and realizing that that's all of your names. So I'm trying to rebrand you guys. Putting out the new Mountain Dew logo and it's just shortened word mountain. So you gave us the brand of the company that created all the dinosaurs in

Jurassic Park. I think that was in gen. I'm telling you right now, if that is poetic to what you people are, I don't know what is. I'm okay with it. Convinced you're doing the right thing while you dam the world. That's sort of your whole thing. Oh, I'm not going to start making dinosaurs. That's cool. Yeah, we don't have our vampire dinosaurs. So the new generation realizing they had to give Allison more time to find this key, decided to put on a distraction. Enoch and Burroughs with Champagne Pudinesca and Junior in the same room, elected to distract both of them before they could find out who the trespasser in their mansion was. The logical distraction there is, of course, beating the shit out of each other, which they proceeded to do for quite some time.

Champagne joined in and all of a sudden it got weird and then neglected to allow him to fight further. That's when it got weird. Yeah, well, there's also a bit regarding Sybil and the member of the Hikata family, Alphons, where they, yes, Sybil did in fact get laid. Yes, I did. And the motorcycle gang arrived as well here in the lobby. Mal and Nile arrived. They learned that there was some swarm of things outside of the mansion and that there were some bad customers here. They continued up through the top floors of the mansion, where they ran into the Countess and a gaggle of corpses that tried to kill both Mal and Allison. Allison's Superman leaked from a window while Mal went further above. Mal eventually reached the top floor where they found an electronic

door that led into the master bedroom at the top of the tombstone. And upon investigation found a book of which they could not read because they're illiterate and just overall dumb. Excuse me. And a lantern from which the Lusombra was too afraid to touch. You can what? You don't get to do recaps anymore. Everyone reconvening at the lowest floor as they began to realize the key was no longer within grasp. They became immediately aware of a situation. They put together the dots that perhaps the meeting between Junior and Kerr was actually a handoff. They led themselves through the lobby and outside of the tombstone into the massive estate, hoping to pursue the Nosferatu Kerr in the hopes that he was keeping the key on his person. On the way though, Champagne stuck

himself with burros and Enoch and burros realized that they needed a quick distraction from the situation. The only logical conclusion to stab a samurai sword as far into Champagne's head as possible and then bar the door with a chair. We all moved out into the main estate, grasslands, the lawn that sits out front of the Hikata estate where we decided to partake in what could only be described as an unstealthed brawl with Kerr in front of many of the party guests. As spoons fell clear from the sky and nearly died, a symbol was attacked by a swarm of wasps. Enoch tried to approach via stealth, now attempted to pull the soul of the shadow of this man through the oblivion onto the other side and all attempts seemed to fail by the new generation,

resulting in Kerr moving quicker than anyone has ever seen to grab Enoch's arm holding the torpor knife in his hand and thus removing the arm entirely from Enoch's body. Kerr fled then, becoming completely invisible to which no one could manage to catch him on the way out and the rest of you made an exit in Baby Blue hoping just to find some refuge. I don't think I left anything else and I think I went far longer than we usually do but there we go. That's everything we've got, you're here, you know what's happening now. Just to start off, before we return to Baby Blue and all of you, I believe our intention is to drive out to Bubblegum Mansion, which again, if you're ranking names I hate, it goes New Generation, Bubblegum Mansion, one and two.

Oh, why? I think it was a great name, it sounds like a problem. It's bringing me, it tackles a lot of subject matter. I'm just saying that you make your closest friends like a beautiful house of flesh and they decide to turn it into Bubblegum and it's just down the window. Hey, it's not the first time it's happened. It won't be the last. That's true. Before we drive out there, let's discuss, do we have any declarations of hunger or experience spends that we'd like to disclose? I did spend on skills, I would rather wait for the surprise on that one, but I met Hunger Four. Oh my god. Oh fuck. Yeah, not at all. I'm Hunger Three.

Oh, okay. It turns out I too am at Hunger Four. So can I just point out for frenzy purposes that I have this big gaping wound? Yeah, okay. You have no arm. Yes, but he does have blood and if Niles is feeling a certain way. Yeah. I am at Hunger Three and will power one after we talk about it. Beautiful. Alison, how are we doing? God, I hope I did this right. I have a two hunger and I, yeah, not bad, two hunger and I have, I think four will power. Okay. That sounds just about right to me. Burroughs, how are we doing?

Just in time. You are muted. Is it on its way? Wait, you're hot. Okay. Thank you. Thank you very much. Yeah, I know guys. I'm sorry. I figured I just add, if I can't control the chaos, I might as well add to it. So I was on the phone with my, Burroughs is ordering Thai food. So that's what's going on right now. So Burroughs is, I can't believe it, but I'm only at two hunger at the moment. I'm at four health. I'm pretty beat up and I've got three will power unless, oh yeah. So that's actually, I'm reading that wrong, that's six will power. Yeah. Yeah.

You are so tired of us. I'm not tired at all. I'm so excited. I'm just so glad at where everyone is. I think everyone should keep it where it's at. Let's see if we can. Wait a minute. Stop that. Beautiful. That leaves all of us in a pretty good place. You are driving underneath a Las Vegas night in the end of July, as we have been spending this beautiful summer in the land where people go to go missing. And God, if you all haven't accomplished that many, many times, this is yet another time that you all have found a way to flee fast as you can away from your issues, letting them pile and pile and pile. And this names another group of people more powerful than you have ever known, older than you have ever seen, who have experienced more lifetimes than

you ever will, upset with all of you, angry with each and every one of you. It's getting to be that all of you are running out of options, out of places to hang your head that might not be a guillotine. I'm wondering, here, are we after Niles' mansion? Is that the destination? That's where I am heading, because it is the closest thing to us. Now, let me ask you this. Would the motorcycle gang, Mal and Niles, would you two have taken the motorcycles? Yes, Niles would absolutely have taken the motorcycle. So, let's make a quick little declaration here. I'd like the two of you, would you have taken them quickly or stealthily? I will tell you this, to attempt stealth at this moment, knowing that the Hikata would have been

pursuing the people causing quite the mess that's going on here, will be considerably harder than getting them quickly. I don't think we were like, I don't think we had a chance for stealth at all, I think we just had to fucking go. Yeah, I think it was just a dash and grab and bolt. Okay, give me both of you, athletics plus dexterity, to see if you were able to get to the motorcycles before the rest could flee in baby blue, before anyone could notice you, before champagne made its way down into the lawn. There's nothing else I can use. I was also looking to see if I could do anything. Here's the thing though, Caleb, I have a speciality in stealth against Kindred.

Can I apply this in this situation for myself in terms of getting back to the bike? If you would like to leave Mal in the open and yourself in stealth, then absolutely you can. Yeah, I'm sorry, Mal. That's not cool. You are not a concern with mine. I'm not surprised. What's good things to say to your friend? I got my boy in my pocket and that's all I got. Wow, that's three successes. Three successes? That's great. Let's hope that's enough. Eight on. Hey, a six point pool versus a three point pool? I'm sorry. Always better. Hey, seriously?

Mal, would you like to expend any willpower? Oh, well, the thing is, all but one of my dice are hunger dice. Oh, well, you could reroll for one success if you'd like. Sure, sure, sure, sure, sure, sure, sure. What's the number of successes, please? Don't wave me. Sorry, hold on. Scolding a cat home? She's just digging for no reason. Okay, that's a ten, so one success. Well, thank god. All the knowledge I've given you, bless you.

Beautiful. With your one success, Mal, that is a failure. I'd like to ask you this. Would you rather be seen or fail to get the bike? I mean, I feel like seen because not getting the bike is a definite no. Okay. No, I feel like this is a trap. I feel like you're trying. This is a trap. There was no trap. They were both bad options. It's just how bad you want it. I'll be seen. So you are seen easily, most likely by Armand, the gatekeeper, as the two of you drive off the howl of those motorcycles, breaking free. And just as the electronic gates are

attempted to be shut behind you, you skirt by a Mal behind Niles and the metal off of the back hubcap of your bike skirts the edge of that gate. And there's this big spray of shock, of sparks that cascade over you, Mal, as you desperately hope it doesn't catch on your clothes. But let's consider that the motorcycles are with us as well as Baby Blue. The convoy is moving itself back into Las Vegas. Burroughs, Niles, and Mal have made it clear they're making their way back to Bubblegum Mansion. Is that your intention as well? Yeah. Let us consider that Thai man would like to go back to Bubblegum Mansion. Let's take it as it is. Within 20, 25 minutes along the highway, you make your way back to

Bubblegum Mansion. You wind your way up the sort of off-road path that lines up those switchbacks up into the sort of pillar of rock that masquerades this mansion. And you park in the quad of the estate. It does become difficult for all of you to keep your vehicles anywhere active because the ground becomes so adhesive that the tires itself stick to those ligaments, becomes like driving through heavy mud. And while neither Baby Blue or the motorcycles were made necessarily for off-roading, it becomes almost a complete halt the second you run into those ligaments. Then I don't know if I drive up them very far. I probably stop where they start growing. Understood. So Baby Blue is out in the open here on the actual dirt, the red clay of Las Vegas,

rather than the actual ligament. Very important point of order, though. Does the ligament squish? Oh, it is absolutely squishing, squelching. Every time that your step hits the actual ligament itself, it gives that sickening, almost like wet taffy or gum that is sat too long in your mouth. It decompresses and then squelches out the side of your boots. When we're about to walk on that shit going back up to the mansion, I will offer both my coat and my body for Allison to trot upon so that she doesn't have to step on the yuck. Down at the floor. But see how messed up you look? I'm going to be like, no. Just kind of like pick him up and just like, but like, no, let's go.

As you pick him up, it's almost as if the floor itself is fighting for control. You do have to sort of remove him as if from adhesive. The floor itself moving across you, Enoch, feels similar to like mycelium colonies. Like it's trying to propagate itself along your skin and pull you in to the house itself. Can I look at like a popsicle? Good. Good. It's like we're back in Colorado, right? Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. How's your jaw? What does it look like? Didn't you get... I don't have my hand pained in the face. His tongue was already sticking out from a broken jaw.

I was going to say, look. Allison's like, that's not cute. Lifts him up and just like, oh no. Half drooling, half broken across the mandible. You lick what little muscle in your tongue you can still control and get some of the goop in your mouth there. Outside of it tasting uniquely like flesh, like the inside of your mouth almost. It pulls against you and it sort of extends out the tongue enough that it's starting to pull against you enough to give some measure of caution as you're uniquely aware. If you keep on with this, it may steal your tongue from you. Stop it. It'll grow back.

As Enoch experiments with all this, I assume we're all getting out walking into the mansion. Go ahead, Niles. Go ahead. Niles ignores everything that Enoch is doing and is just walking straight into the mansion or towards the doors into the mansion. Burroughs is also a little preoccupied and gets out in a hurry too. Caleb, I was going to say, Allison's like, I don't know what this is. She's not thinking well with that. She's kind of like pulling him along. Does his tongue retract? I'm pulling him in the house. His tongue retracts enough that you can pull him free. And it probably skins like the top layer of your taste buds. If you were human, you probably would have COVID mouth for

the next few weeks until they grew back. But thankfully, your kindred don't need to taste. It's more about the mouth feel than the taste. There's an exceptional mouth feel here. Yeah, I think it's in the house. Yeah, that's what I was going to say. I think we're all as deep as we could get in the house without being in the house's mouth. Well, how about we share what we learned while we were in the Hakata mansion? Me and Enoch had an interesting conversation with Slow Mo Jr. He sent us on some kind of mission. He's looking for, what do you call it, Enoch? What kind of creature was it? Oh, that's right. It was a Gorgon.

Something about a Gorgon. They're looking for somebody. I think it's the person that's been turning people into gelatin. Remember that whole saga with Rye Gale? There's some kind of connection with them. I don't know if it was involved with Kerr or the Nosferatu, but yeah, yeah, them. Well, I've found a scary book in a secret room at the top. Let me see. Let's see it. I'll pull it out. It was like the old vellum looked maybe like human skin. That looks like human skin. Yeah, Allison, you would know from your extensive work with material that that's absolutely human skin. I know that's human skin. That definitely looks like human skin. I play with it. Yeah. See, okay. Okay. Okay. Well, can anyone read it? Because otherwise...

It's not in English? No. Caleb? Yes. I actually have a little bit of a cult. Can I actually... Do I happen to recognize any of this? Sure. Yes. Anyone who would like to make a role to sort of decipher what this language on the front might translate into a language that you all understood, you may. It will be an occult plus... Let's call that occult plus intelligence to sort of translate to the nearest language. Might I use my academics? Yes, you may use academics in place of the cult. Girls, don't fuck around with the occult. I don't know shit. Girls, you can't eat this book. You've got no interest. I got one ten.

One ten. Okay. So what's the set? I got a B.C.O. failure. Oh my god. Mal, you're angry. You can't read. You didn't eat the book. You know what, Mal? I'll give you a little bit more for your B.C.O. failure. Mal, you feel an acute connection with this book and that is why it becomes so much more infuriating when you cannot draw anything from its subject material, its language, its understanding. You feel tethers from this thing that spark your soul in a way that you haven't felt since you were alive. But fuck if you can't read it. Enoch. I got a messy critical. Okay. Just a messy critical? Well, total that would be three successes, I guess.

Three successes, okay. Unless do you count the critical ones as double? How is that working exactly? If you have two criticals, two criticals is worth four, basically. I see. So, okay. So if you have criticals, it'd be seven. If you don't, it's three. Yeah, sorry. I just wanted to make sure I was getting it right because I'm always afraid of messing this up. But yes, I think that is the case. Okay. Yeah. So you would translate this back into Latin, I think. So I'm going to send this over to you, Erin, and you can do whatever you'd like with it. Yeah, great. Give it to the guy with the broken jaw. Dead men tell no tales.

All right. So we found a book. We know that the Hakata wants something to do with this Gorgon. Yeah. I learned it looked empty. What's that? The room upstairs looked empty, otherwise. There was this like weird lamp with a, well, a, a, a kite and a row on it. It was like, what? You were, I didn't see you upstairs. Yeah, I didn't see you upstairs either. Well, what the hell? I don't know where the fuck did you go? Out the window. Oh, were you getting around Mommy Deer Skull? I don't know. All I can tell you this is there was they, I don't, bleh, came out of the stairs. Oh, zombies. Yeah, for sure. I don't know. I know something was behind me, but I'm sorry. I see that. Yeah, by the way, there's a lady with a deer

skull. Uh, she can make zombies, so. I do know the lady with that skull though. Yeah. She seems real pretty. Maybe Boros can do, uh, do that with her. Probably hot. It gives me total, yeah, vibes like that. Right. It's kind of like scary hot. I heard her. I heard her through the house singing. It was beautiful. Did we learn anything else about deer skull woman other than she's hot and can sing? I'm, uh, and make zombies and you make zombies and make zombies. I learned where Dino was. He's out in the desert somewhere. It almost sounded like he was on them a favor or something like that. Like he was there willingly, but I don't know. Still don't feel good about it.

Also, did anyone see a professor looking mother hubber with champagne running around? I think the only person who would have had an opportunity, simple, you can roll a wits plus awareness to see if you would have been watching by the time that he came down with champagne. Okay. Everyone else would have either been with junior at the time or not on scene for successes you saw this individual. He was, um, heavy set with his big beard, this catered haircut. He looked very collegiate with these thin framed glasses. He looked upset, very upset. Okay. Uh, yeah, no, I, I saw him. I was a little distracted by song.

He, because I overheard a conversation between deer, champagne, whatever. He's looking for something that they owe him. So that could become very key info because homeboy was yelling at champagne like he had a pair and he walked away. So that tells me that he really does have some pull. I mean, the only thing we established that was that important was that damn key and it was Kerr that walked away with it. Maybe he wanted it from Kerr. I just, just wanted to throw that up because, um, he's stuck in my mind. I just wanted, uh, if said, well, I didn't know if he knew him or anything like that. No, no, Jeff, did we know definitively whether or not this band, this band was human, right? I don't think so.

No, I think he was. Who are we speaking on? Professor. He was human, right? There's no guarantee. No one checked. Could be a human acting that brazenly around a bunch of kindred. That's impressive. I mean, or anyone acting brazenly around champagne, which by the way, what happened to him? I don't know if I really want to talk about it. Well, I suppose it should have glowed about it while I'm alive. I got my samurai sword stuck between his eyes. His ass? His eyes. Oh, oh. It might as well have been through his eyes. I should have fucking staked him through the heart, but I didn't think about that. I just, I just wanted to blind him long enough first to get the hell away. And now I've got fucking Champagne Pudinesca

coming after me with it, my own damn sword. Okay, but can I just say that's so cute. His name is so stupid. It's so stupid. Champagne, are we talking? Champagne Pudinesca. I mean, it can be as stupid as you want, but if he catches any of us, we're in fucking trouble. I'm fully aware. This is me coping poorly. I quit that. Are we 100% certain that, and this is, this is a stupid question to ask now because I'm covered in beastings, but are we certain that Kerr is the one with the key? Wait. We damn near searched the entire part of that house and I'll remember them. He was a special guest. You know, he was there for a reason and I think it's because he's got it. And to be

honest with you, if he's got it, I actually feel, I feel like we have done somewhat of our job because if they think poorly of the Camarilla, for the scene we made, and he's got it, he might not be inclined to give it to the Camarilla anytime soon. And if he knows Seratu, they're not kind of know Seratu in the camp. That could work. We did fully try to kill him, but who doesn't these days? I think we're aiming more for just the damn key, but we didn't get it. Yeah, it's true. We just have to... I just want, I want, I want hard proof of the key in case we have to immediately testify about something that we've been doing or show proof that what we're doing is moving forward. Because if

we only think that he has the key and it turns up somewhere else, where, I mean... Well, let's... Okay, so we know the key, all this is important, but I think we have to just, can we address the other elephant in the room of the lake? Fuck. Right. When's the last time we heard or checked on, before the party? You guys were just there, right? We never made it to the lake. We were here, a lot of wanted Niles to come and rule by her side or some shit. I mean, at this point, with all the people we're pissing off, it's not sounding like the worst option in the world. It is actually a pretty good item for you, Niles, if you wanted to go somewhere for a little while. You can get out again. But the anarchs went to the

lake. We told the anarchs about it. So maybe now we do need to go to the lake and just kind of squash this thing. Oh. I mean, the camera there too, so if nothing else, it'll be like a blood bath. Mm-hmm. I haven't recovered from our last blood bath. Yeah. We... Okay, and we don't have any way of contacting Lada outside. I mean, she kind of reached out to you, Niles, but can we... I could reach out to Lada again. What is there to say? You're probably going to say the same thing. Come and visit me. But then we know she's so right. True, you could just check and make sure they're still alive, yeah. So I think we also need to figure out... What's... There's too many things. Like, like, do we... Should we just... Do we hide there? Because

it's like, I'm on a loss. I mean, I don't think she's going to take... Oh, no, no, no. We're on site. I know that. I don't think she's going to take kindly to the fact that people are after her now and the last people that saw her were us, correctly. So I don't think she's going to want company from our asses. Look, I'm serious when I say that I'm going to have to go away for a little while if I want to try to get ahead of Champagne Pudinesca. My intention is to go talk with the panarchs, let them know my feelings, and I don't know, maybe I go hang out somewhere, disappear for a little while, just so I know things are safe, you know? Yeah. Okay. I don't think under the lake is safe because we called, like you said,

we called the anarchs there. We can't... Technically, we could go to Canaan, but the cam knows we're there. Yeah, I think this is the safest place for us to be right now. I don't think you can figure out how to leave it a little bit cleaner. Ironically, yeah, I feel safest just here. No, we're dead as soon as we walk out. What, we're just going to hide now? I mean, I'm not saying we shouldn't, but I just feel like hiding is a momentary balm or something. Yeah, maybe hide is not the right word, but I think it's all, I think we're all pretty clear here. We're skirting around the subject of the fact that I can't show my face around the Camarilla, not after fucking stabbing Champagne

Poudinesque in the eye. I think I'm going to go turn anarch. I think I'm going to see what it's like on the other side for a little while. Like, officially? I don't know. I mean, what, I don't know if I can keep up the facade that everything's A-OK with these freaks, man. These people freak me the hell out. At least the anarchs are willing to listen to you. At least the anarchs feel like me or more like me at least. I don't know. Maybe I could be your go-between or something if you guys are deciding to stay with the Camarilla. I don't want a war. I just don't want to have to deal with the

Cam anymore with the Tower. That's fair. Yeah. I mean, I have no love for the Cam I never have, so might as well. But Sybil, if you're telling me right now that the smart move is to play both sides, I mean, hell, I guess I can try to entertain it. Yeah, I mean, I think it is, but I, I think it depends. It's two different things about what we tell people we do and who we support versus who we actually do. I think we should keep playing both sides all the way down, but I think some official changes of, I don't know, affiliation would be helpful. Yeah. I'm sticking with the Cam. Look, as of right now, I can't speak for everybody as I definitely hold the E knockdown. All I can

say is as of right now, I am not powerful enough to protect him and myself by myself. So personally, like I said, I'd rather deal with the devils I know than the devils I don't. And now, point of order, when you say devils, you know, is that us or is that the Cam? Yes, I meant you. You're all the devils. Yeah. Okay. Thank you. You're welcome. And I'm trying to clean off any kind of blood off of the E knock because it's still going, I'm assuming, and I don't have napkins. So it's kind of like, while we're on the subject, God, what happens if I lick my own vitae from my arm to keep it from spilling everywhere? Great question. It does stay in your body, I guess.

I think, yeah, you could probably start a little like, it's sort of like plugging an outlet into itself. It's like a closed loop. Yeah. Yeah. It's a closed loop, but whatever makes you feel better, buddy. I'm just staring at that, like, trying not to be upset at that. Your tongue has grown back by now. You can speak. Oh, thank God. It's because I was licking my own blood. Yeah. It's infinite energy, you speak. Okay. Good. I think maybe we should all try to find something to eat. Great. Enoch's covered. So gross and weird. We're all just watching it. I can turn around. I think we all would just watch it. Niles is fucking staring at it. It's like a dog licking itself.

Kind of. Anyways. Enoch aside, what do we need? Where? I think we have to go back in the city for that. I know an excellent drug stop. Okay. Okay. Is there any way, nope, that's stupid. I'm not going to do a dash. I'm not going to do a dash food because they know where we are. We could be the driver. We either just take the next and hopefully get our bearings and then we take the next steps, but it's either we go back or we go to, or we just stay here. Without a role, you would know this. You have a direct line to some easy quick food. You just have to make a call. The circulatory system delivers.

Again, well, this is Aaron speaking, but then they would know where we are. That's what I'm thinking, but also we are fucked looking. I don't think it's just looking. Yeah, right. It's a state of being. And if we, whatever we do, we need to be in best shape and I feel like going to the city is going to be worse than one person knowing where we are and we can make one person forget if we eat first. That's true. It's dumb, but it's less dumb. I think I can do something with that. Yeah. I mean, are we all just sharing one person? Oh, fuck, I don't eat people, but most of us could. All right. That's better than nothing.

Sibyl, you have an immense pull. If you wanted more than one person, you could bring in more than one person. You could have your pick of the litter. Okay. Yeah, it feels like a deal with the devil is being made. What were the devils been tempted by God today, Zach? I mean, there is, there is one place that we could hide out that might have food. It's a connection of mine to the guy named double H. It's quiet, secluded, and there's always a bite to eat there. He's eccentric as hell, but for now he's an ally. He gave me the sword. That means anything. Wait, double H. Yeah, that's what I call him. I think it's best to learn who he is once

you're amongst them. Wait, hold on. Is he HH Holmes? I was thinking the same thing now. Yes. Is it? HH Holmes. Is that a murderer? Is it a fucking murderer in Chicago with the murder mansion? Yeah. Pretty sure it's not that double H, no. You can ask him about it though, but he's around that time. Oh God. You're in the right ballpark. Oh my God. That would have been far too long thinking about all the double H's names at the fair gave you a katana. Is that what you were saying? Someone else with two H's is in their names. Okay. Okay. I don't mind calling Harry Houdini. Come on. It's Harry Houdini, isn't it? I think they both, no, I don't think they lived at the same time. Maybe they did. Howard Hughes?

Are we guessing? They're going HH, going every HH I think. Is that it? Are we going or not? Okay. That's it Allison, you got it. It is it, isn't it? It's Howard Hughes. I don't mind calling, but if you feel like Hugh Hefner or Howard Hughes is safer, then I'm for that. I don't know if he's safer. He's going to certainly be needed to know everything that we know. That it is. He would certainly like our loyalty. He would certainly like us to, he would certainly like to have, basically we owe him a favor. Can we afford favors? I don't know. I feel like, to be honest with you, he's going to want a favor, but he's also harmless in a way. Again, you have to see him to understand. I feel like a favor

isn't worth the dinner. We have a choice. Why not? Get what we want. We could also just like go anywhere. There's humans all over the place right before the taking. But you don't have an arm. So, that will just buy me sympathy with my victim. Okay, Ted Bundy. I know. We have to make a decision the longer we wait, the worse it gets. All those in favor of seeing Hugh Hefner here, Houdini, Howard Hughes, A.J. Holmes, raise your hand. Okay. Only if I can ask him for tip. Caleb, did you just drop dice twice? I just rolled dice twice. Oh, fuck.

It's a very dramatic clack. Yeah. Okay. No far away is H, H, H, H. Just on the outskirts of the city won't take long. We're already outside the city anyway. You're honestly very close to where H, H is now. Oh, I know. Harry Potter. That's a P. It's not Harry Potter. If it were me, it would be Helga Hufflepuff. Yes. Yes. We're going. Caleb, before we leave, can I? I do want to check in on Lada. Okay. Sure. So, you're going back up to Castamere's room and you're pulling, you're plucking on that web? Yeah. Okay. I can't remember what we rolled last time. What was it?

A Fleshcraft. Fleshcraft, I think. Manipulation. Yeah. Let's go with that. That sounds right. Fleshcraft. Or the Viscissitude, not Fleshcraft. If it wasn't what we did last time, it is now. Pull the record. That is three successes, but one B-Seal failure. Understood. Just go ahead and walk me through what this looks like as you separate from the rest, as they're all piling into the cars, as they're getting ready to go out and meet H, H, H. What does this look like as you're up there in the web? I think Niles is more dragging themselves up there this time than walking up the steps.

But I think once they get to the web, they're going to first take spoons out and lay them where Castamere would have been his little space. And then they're going to whisper again the same words that they did before and then pluck the strand. They're just hoping maybe to get a vision or whatever they can get out of it. Understood. Yeah, you set spoons down in their new visage. Their bigger visage. And their little bird feet kick up at the sky as they're turned onto their back. And they seem to be in more jovial spirits now that they can better breathe. Spoons seems to be almost joking around the way that those little tiny feet are kicking up at the air, almost like a kid on a trampoline. Then you begin to pluck those strings and just a single

resonating movement. And the rest of you within the house would feel this, even down in the lobby, this resonating like a tuning fork that runs through the entire building as it's sent through. And that same, also almost mycelium host underneath your feet begins to multiply and fold, almost like a deck of cards being turned over or dominoes hitting each other one after the other. It resonates, moves and reacts like a muscle twitching underneath stress. And you are visited with another vision, Niles. At first it is of Lada sitting at their throne. The rush of water is running behind them and they seem almost calm, relaxed, brought to peace. They're sitting with their legs, their beautiful long, healed, naturally healed legs crossed over

one over another. And they are cascaded back against the throne, all of their scolera eyes shut around the crown of flesh that sits about their head. And then a second vision floods your mind. And it is almost sifting through like a fisheye lens, moving at a dramatic speed. At first it starts in the corner of the ceiling, but it begins to weave between different aisles within a store. You whiz past a cash register and then in through the aisles against cascaded over aisles that have been pushed over, almost ran straight through as if a vehicle had broken through here. And for a moment you can feel this open air, this wind hit the right side of your body as you can feel and see on the right side, this big storefront window has been broken in entirely. And there's

this hole where probably a person was thrown through. And that lead up of aisles runs into the corner of the room. And you can see Hugh, who has been pierced through with this steel that is sort of embedded in his ribs. And he's breathing very shallowly across it and kind of pulling himself free from it. And you can see that there are three rimmed corpses just about where he is. And then two piles of dust nearby that is sort of tracing the outline of this convenience store. And Hugh is sort of cascaded in some of it. Someone Hugh must have brought along, died so fervently within final death that he was now painted with the ash of his dead friend. But he's alive, he's watching after every corner, and he is looking for something.

God, can Niles ask for Lada not to hurt him? Because I assume that's Lada. Is that what you call into the threads? Yeah, Niles kind of just paddocks and just like says don't like or like please. There was another immediate flash as you can feel in your chest this sort of flash of anger, like red hot heat in your chest, the sort of thing that comes about when you've been accused of something. But that new vision flashes to the side of this massive executioner's blade cascaded off on the cobblestone that leads outside of this convenience store. And you're almost seeing this from the perspective of the floor itself. And you can see a set of

legs, a shorter figure walking up to the blade from where it is now. You recognize the form, you've seen Cisco before, you imagine you're getting a vision of Cisco currently. Uh-oh. And given your natural intuition, you would guess that Lada is telling you here that this was not her fault. This was the act of a sheriff. Yeah, look. Then I'm going to ask her if that's the case, then Niles is going to ask if she would help keep him safe. Just him.

Make a manipulation plus your vicissitude. Or charisma plus vicissitude, if you think that would be a more compelling argument. Manipulation would be better. Okay. Yes, four successes. There is another vision of that beautiful, gauzed woman in that long naked flesh of her body cascaded under that transparent dress. You've never truly understood whether it was her or fabric or what, but it cascades back up to her face and she takes a single finger and presses it to her lips as if to quiet you. And then there is another vision very quickly of a clock, many clocks, a wall of clocks that are starting to tick as if a timer is running down. Go ahead

and roll me a, let's call this insight plus wits. Two successes. You imagine that this might be Lada saying that they will do what they can, but you do not have much time. It seems that Lada is preserving their anonymity over Hughes life and can only go as far as they can. Okay. All Niles can do is quietly thank her and they will immediately go back downstairs and taking spoons with them. Beautiful. There's a final vision of that terrifying woman that haunting visage blowing you a kiss. Keep on moving. Yeah, I'm going to go back down.

And how long is it going to take us to deal with you or to deal with your HH? To deal with them. It won't take any time at all. I was thinking we go there just to relax and have a place to hide out that nobody really knows much about. I don't have time. I have to get to the lake. To be honest with you, I was about to argue, are we sure we want to just let the lake go? I think we got to go too. I don't, yeah, I just have to go. I don't have time. But what's going on? Is anyone hurt? Yes. Sis goes there. And if I don't get there, I can't. I have to find Hugh and I have to make sure he's okay. I got to go there. None of us including you are in good enough shape. I don't care. But you can't though. You're physically can't. You and me.

It's going to be you turning into dust in front of Lana. That's the help. I can't leave him there by himself. I'm sure you can. I can't. We believe in you. I mean, honestly, you know, it's got a point. We can't go now. We have to, we have to be worth something first. Well, June's almost just died already. Which is why I can't afford to lose something else. All right, fucking, let's stop talking about it. Now let's jump in. I'll drive there. I'll take my bike. I'll follow. Hold on. If you guys need to replenish, go replenish. But I can eat. There's nothing HH really has to offer for me.

Yeah, but we saw that. Did we? There's a bunch of us. They can go around. Let's look. I'm relatively healthy too. I can actually just quickly, I can quickly go in quietly. Can't get an update and get back. What? So Niles, Allison and I go. You three go to HH. Burroughs is driving baby blue out to the lake. As far as I understood it. Oh, I thought, I thought he was going to HH. It's an option. I don't know, but I don't need to go there. I'll just offer it as an option. Let's stop dicking around. Let's just go. Niles is going to freak out. Let's just get in the car,

head to the lake. And if we need to, we'll turn around and go to HH. How's that? Right? You can follow me or you can't don't have to follow me. It doesn't matter. I'm heading to the lake. Be in the car. Be in the car. Let's go. At this current moment, is there anyone that is not heading to Lake Mead? I got where Allison goes. Okay. And Sybil? I'm going. Okay. That means that all of you, packing into baby blue and perhaps the motorcycles or are we all going in one? I'm taking the motorcycle. And then I think I still, I have my shotgun, I think at the mansion. So I'm putting that in the rack and I'm heading out. Got it.

Okay. Are there motorcycles selling us? Someone else wants to get on it? Are there any other preparations? Any weapons, accoutrements, anything else that we need to satisfy before we go to Mead? Do we have any weapons that are stored here? I don't think so. Don't believe so. You could conceivably make a roll to scavenge something out of the mansion. Place has not been looted since it happened. So perhaps something could be in there. I'll check. I'll definitely do a loot check. Okay. I think I definitely had a handgun on me. Yeah. I think I still have three foot's knife. I believe you do have three foot's knife. I do. With the exception of these nails and my stilettos, they're the only sharp things I have.

So I'd really like to have something. Allison and Sybil are looking for something within the mansion, right? Yes. Start with you, Sybil. Sybil, what are you looking for in specific? I'm looking for like, if raged weapons of any kind, things we don't have to get close to people to use. So shotgun would be great. Or a harpoon. Yeah. Or a whole harpoon would be even better. Of course. Give me an investigation plus wits. They've got to have harpoons. It's essential gear around here. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. That's what I'm saying. That's three successes. Three successes. Yeah. That's three successes. Okay. You are looking about and you indeed find that within the wreckage of this place lodged between the ligament seems to be a nine millimeter handgun of some

kind. There is about half a magazine inside. So you've probably got about six shots, you'd guess. Okay. Thank you for joining us. Awesome. Welcome. Allison, what are we thinking here? Well, I'm going to try to actually look for something that can be used. Like I'm looking for almost any and everything. So if even a hairspray canister, just if I have to like that bitch on fire. Absolutely. Okay. Go ahead and make me an investigation plus wits. My investigation is literally one, but I called it social stalker because she was that. Oh no. Three successes. Three successes. You do indeed find the everything you would need to make molotovs.

Absolutely. So let's assume that you have the makings of three molotovs within this mansion. Is anyone else investigating for anything to find? Are we all good here? All I need is my fairway. It's beautiful. Also, I would like to make note. I do have a, if I would have a like a lighter. That's just so clear. Oh yes. Come on. Allison has had a lighter on her since she was 15. Also known as the frenzy button. Yeah. I would avoid fire around yourself. It can be very difficult to fight. Okay. So you all get yourselves into the vehicles and take off into the Mojave Desert past Las Vegas. The trouble is, is that you're in Southern Summerland and your destination is out past Henderson Lake Mead. That's an hour drive and you

have to hope that Hugh is going to make it that long. Whether that vision was something of the future or the present or the past, who knows, but the rest of you are fighting that interpretation, hoping against hope that there's still something to save out there by that lake, that there's still a sheriff to stop. I want to make clear to all of you so that you can make the best informed decisions. If Sheriff Cisco or any of their members were to return to the Prince with information regarding Lada, it's almost assuredly that Lada would be the next target for all of the Camarilla. But there are other things to consider as well. Should Sheriff Cisco or any of their team wind up dead, it is an assurance to the Prince that there is indeed

something out there in Lake Mead. But even further, if they were to wind up dead and Hugh or any of the Anarchs sent by Niles were to be found as the culprits, it would be a reason to break the truce. So some things to consider are who gets out of here alive. With that in mind, could I get a drive roll from Burroughs, from Mal, and from Niles? That's a drive. What's next? All three hunger die. Two successes. Okay. Okay. Two successes for Niles. All right, we'll call it a queen sweep. You make it out to Henderson on reasonable, reasonable time. It is nearing two o'clock in the morning,

there's three hours left in this night before the world ends. And there is not many cars on the roads to impede your journey. And the three of you are burning everything that you have to get out to Henderson the fastest you absolutely can. The intention when you arrive in Henderson, I assume is to go immediately to the lake. What's the plan when we arrive? I'm looking for Hugh. Okay. I'm going to actually approach Burroughs and Sybil really quick, and I'm going to be like everybody. I'll be like, should this just be no survivors? Because if there's no one there to report, yes, it will look suspicious, but they can't know 100% what happened. And they are in our territory. Anything could happen.

If the right people don't walk out of this, a war is going to start, and that's the entire reason we were trying to get that key was to prevent a war. Mal knows this sheriff, they're both Lissandra, maybe they can talk it out or something. Yeah, it's either that or we play number games, which isn't, it's not worth it. We'll try to talk it out first, if not exactly what you said. Plan B. I was in fact actively looking for Cisco. Cool. Okay. If there are no other conversations to be had, I'm going to ask that one of you makes an

investigation plus either intelligence or wits to discern where that vision might be leading. I believe this should come down to Niles. Do we all agree? At least to kind of give us any kind of direction, you know? Yeah, because Niles is the only one who saw this. Even a guess, you would remember there's cool air, that window was open on the storefront, the convenience store was all but mangled, and you saw a view out there by the sword on the floor with a view of the lake. Go ahead and give me an investigation plus either intelligence or wits, Niles, whichever is highest. I don't have anything in investigation.

So just on my wits. Okay. If you fail, there will be an additional chance. It just means things get a little harder. Oh, hell yeah. Two successes. A nine out of ten. As Burroughs mentions the boat house over the roar between the car and your motorcycle, you can see that vision again and you feel that breath of air across your right side of your body and the vision of the sword on the floor, the sight of the lake, you're almost sure that Burroughs has it right. It's on the marina. It has to be. It's either near where you killed that man or at least within the surrounding area. So with a location in mind, you all take off

peeling through to try and get to the perimeter of the lake mead, down to the lake mead marina. We'll assume that you've roared into the parking lot and as you three vehicles arrive on scene, you're all treated to this vision of a absolutely decimated convenience store on the corner of the docks and marina that lead up to many of the boat rental places that lead out into the lake mead area. It looks as though in the dead of this night, something decimated this area. Two cars have t-boned into each other. Another has pierced through into the convenience store you can only imagine is the one from your vision. There is a hail of broken glass, a bullet casings along the floor and you can see at least two bodies off to your far diagonal to the

left that are unmoving and on the floor underneath a street lamp that cascades over the parking lot and you get this big long stretch down the marina. As far as you can tell, there's no living beings walking about within your area as you all come to a parking stance in the parking lot. I want to go to those two bodies under the streetlight. Do those are the human bodies? You'd have to get up close enough to discern this. How close are you getting to them? If I can take them out from under the streetlight, that would be great. I'm down to drag them like five feet to the side. Are you making any precautions before you grab at them? Well, now I am. I think I'm just trying to be stealthy, but that's, I don't think I'm expecting

them to be dead. Let me ask you a question. Are you trying to be stealthy for the parking lot or for these two bodies? For the, no, for the parking lot. Okay. Roll me a stealth plus dexterity. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Two successes. I see. Okay. Let's hope that's enough. You grab them by the ankles. You pull them free so that they are closer under the light. And immediately it is as though you've robbed a grave. These two bodies are so decrepit in age that there is no way that they have freshly died. They are beyond ancient. And you can see immediately on where their hearts might be, there are two titanium, beautiful silver, or at least silver in color,

stakes that have been pressed through their hearts. And at the very base of that stake, embossed into the metal, and almost stickered through is a plain smiley face. And these two bodies seem to have met their final death. Oh. Sibyl's going to take the stakes. Okay. And just keep going. Keep moving. Understood. You're about 30, 45 feet from baby blue. Are you moving back towards the car? Are you continuing down the marina? Yeah, I'm going back. Okay. Sibyl returns with these stakes. All right, let's think about this. There's probably Cam, probably the sheriff. Mal, you think you could convince this person to just walk away? Maybe keep this quiet?

Maybe. I have to know where they are first. Have I seen them? Or can I make a, can I be, can I be looking for, because I know that they had a sword. Yeah. Do I see any other signs of them besides the sword? Are you, you're looking in particular for the sword itself? I think I'm just, I guess I don't know the sword is there. I'm looking, I'm just looking for Cisco or any signs of Cisco. Okay. And just looking about, let me get a wits plus awareness and perception. While they're doing that, can I just point out that I am actively avoiding being seen by any parties outside of the cotter? Are you, are you activating the obfuscate in any way? Yeah,

let's say I'm doing silence of death. Okay, silence of death. So you are still visible, you're just very quiet. Yes. Got it. Three successes. Three successes. Mal, as far as you can tell, Cisco is not present physically within anywhere you can see. Okay. I mean, if we can find them, great, but I don't, I don't see them here. Is the, like, is there a sword here or anything like that? It does not seem to be any massive blade on the floor. Cool. I didn't figure then. I'm not even, are you, how close to the convenience store are you getting in your investigations here now? I think I'll probably go up to the window at least and just try to stick to the shadows. Yeah. You do, you hear a scuffle by the moment that you do arrive at the window. And it's clear

that something within is trying to hide from your presence and did not do a very good job of it, but you do not see any blade anywhere. I'm back with Niles and Burroughs is like, you said something about a convenience store. There it is. Let's just walk up. Yeah. I think Niles will just start heading there trying to find Hugh, like the exact spot where he was in the vision. Okay. Yeah. You move past Mal. Is Burroughs coming along with? Yeah. I think Burroughs is like trying as quickly as possible to find Hugh's. Got it. So Niles and Burroughs gather around at the foot of the convenience store by Mal. Again, it looks as though someone's body was pressed through this storefront window and across the room. And following that

impact with Niles, it's pretty easy to find Hugh who unfortunately was trying his best to keep himself from sight from Mal. But stepping into the convenience store, you can see that he has been pierced through just shy of his heart. So Torper may be close, but it doesn't seem as though he's entered it. He, I think out of the panic and the remembrance of such is breathing. The sudden anxiety that comes on, the adrenaline that still beats even in a dead heart, the beast that pushes on, lends this Burrough to life, but it's clear that he is dazed, panicked, and impaled by this piece of almost rebar that has come free from either one of the awnings, the aisles, or the wall that he's been pressed through. And he has not been able to bring himself up from enough strength to remove

himself from this. But he's in plain view. I think Niles is just, without hesitation, immediately running up to Hugh and crouching down and just looking at him. Oh my god, you came, you made it. Niles, where's everyone else? The rest of the Coderies with me, they're right outside, but we need to get you situated first, right? No, my people. Where's my people? I don't know. I don't know. I didn't see anybody else outside, just you. It was six of us. Niles, we need to get him out of here. Okay, we need to get you out of here. We need to get you out of this, this, this bar, okay? Hughes, I'm going to pick you up. It's going to hurt a little bit, but we'll try to make it quick. I don't know if it's safe. I think they're still here. Who's still here? Them.

The sheriff. Yeah. Yeah. I've never seen somebody move like that. Niles, he's rambling at this point. Let's go. And I'm going to start like trying to work on getting, first I'm going to try the rebarb to like get it out of whatever wall it might be stuck in or the ground or something. Got it. Maybe you can move with that sticking through them. Give me a strength plus either athletics or brawl. Now I'll tell you this, if you use athletics, I'll say that you are more accurate in your interpretation. If you use brawl, I'm going to say this is a brute strength thing, because you know, as well as anyone else burrows, if this goes too far to the left, too far to the right, he may be sleeping for a very long time. Yeah, I'm going to try a little finesse. I'll

use my dexterity or you said strength and strength plus athletics if you'd like to be more finesse. That is two successes. You're willing to roll a willpower if you'd like to. Yeah, I think I will just to get another. Nope. That was success. I'll take that. So that is one more success for two willpower. Okay, so three successes means that you grip this rebar. What does this look like as you pull it free from his chest? Yeah, I think I kind of put my hands similar to like the hilt of a samurai sword on his back and then put my foot against the wall of the floor and then just like try to pull it out as Niles is kind of helping me lift his body. I'm just tearing the rebar out of the concrete or the probably more like a plaster. Got it. Yeah, you pull him free in the

rebar as well. And it seems that you've at least gotten him free from the wall. What you you too decide to do next is up to you as he kind of struggles through his days. He's still with you, but he's ready to walk hands on his wound. And yeah, try to get him out of this area as fast as we can. I think we're working together. I think they're still going for the lake. They had another team. Cisco was by themselves. I think they're going after your person after whoever. Okay, we'll deal with that in a second. We just I rather focus on getting you safe somewhere. What's the plan? Where are we going? We need to get you out of here, man. That's that's a simple fact of it. So we're going back to Alice. We can go back. He could get us some help. He could send

in reinforcements. I just look at Niles like this dude's ass in trouble. I mean, where else can we go? I don't know how double H feels about the whole Annark thing. But I mean, yeah, we can go there. But I think we I think we deliver this man to the Anarchs. I want to deliver this man of the Anarchs. And if it's just me, then so be it. If it's just me and Niles, I'm fine with that. I don't think those those fucking tower folks are going to get through to to Lada. Okay. I don't think so either. I don't know. Okay, so this conversation is going on. Are there any actions that are not belonging to boroughs to to Niles? And I'm assuming Sybil is in this room having this conversation. So Enoch, Allison, Mal, any actions?

Mal, did you want to go first? I think if I've heard because I was standing right next to the window so I may have heard. And as soon as I hear that they're looking that that Cisco might still be around, I'm going to shadow cloak myself and start. Okay, can I if I can access the oblivion and Cisco can access the oblivion? Is there a way to like sense them? I don't think that's any of the things that I can do, but I just thought it would be neat if I could. So I'm asking. Here is what we'll do as I don't think there's any indication that there was a site there, you know. And you do not possess oblivion site, do you? I do not know. I've gone for more violence actual tactical things, haven't you? Yeah. Okay, so we're going to do this and I'm going to allow

you to attempt this, but it's going to be difficult because obviously this is not something baked into the game. I'd like you to roll a wits plus awareness and you can add your dots for oblivion to that roll. Okay. Three, six. No, hold on. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, one more. Okay. All right. One, two, three, four. Four successes. Mal, you become shadow, whether it's out of the corner of an aisle that's knocked over on the floor, whether it's the recesses and the ceiling, whatever it may be, you join the room in its darkness. The trouble is you discern that there is a portion of the room you couldn't enter if you tried. A shadow that is longer than it should be.

A shadow that sits directly behind you. Inside a huge shadow, you believe that you have discerned that Cisco is in the room. Okay. Can I do something? Absolutely, you can. This will be the last action if this should cause any violence towards that shadow. It will move towards combat initiative, just so you know. Okay. I want to try to reach through the shadow with Umbrus Clutch again. I want to warn you again that using Umbrus Clutch does cause a stain on your soul and removes humanity. It is also a very violent pull, not one that is very friendly. It is essentially taking Cisco's soul, ripping it through the bowels of hell and telling it should be by you. Cool. Okay. That's why you lose the humanity thing. Uh-huh. No, I understand. I just picked

this because it's cool. It is so fucking cool. And to do it on someone like her is like, yeah, fuck you. But to do it on your mommy, that's a different story. Right. I don't want to do that to mommy. So I guess instead, I would like... Meaning good. No, I don't want to do that. I don't want to do that. I didn't realize exactly how violent it was. And now that I understand, that's not what I want to do. I would like to instead, um, shadow my way directly against them. Okay. And make it obvious that I'm there. Okay. Yeah. How do you make it obvious? Are you speaking? Are you moving? I'm just going to use one of my little shadow tendrils to like...

Like on their shoulder. Not on their face there, but I'm like on their shoulder. Thank you for clarifying. No one insinuated you were going for the face and butt. Oh, Zaki made a face. And so I assumed that was the... I thought you were having another were all naked moment. No, no, I'm just stupid. Everyone's got their giblets out for this fight too. Go ahead and make a manipulation plus intimidation here. Unless you think you're trying to be Casper the friendly ghost here. Persuade and performant. That's worse. I don't think I'm trying to like scare them, but I don't think I'm trying to be

necessarily friendly. I think I'm like, hey, I'm here. Let's talk more than anything. Okay. So then make a manipulation plus persuasion. Sorry. Hey, you're letting me get away with a lot, right? And I respect you for... So make up for it. I have one onk with fangs and one normal success. So two total, but one of them might be messy. It is a messy critical. Yeah. I'm going to keep that in my back pocket. That's the thing you got to be careful.

Cisco reveals themselves as the two of you are walking away with Hugh and there's discussion of where to take him. Do we take him to Ellis? Do we use him as a bargaining chip with the Anarchs? Do we take him back to HH? There's a lot of communication as you suddenly become aware that Cisco has heard all of it. And better yet, you become uniquely aware that Hugh now has this massive sword against his neck and Cisco, the smaller framed individual. I mean, Cisco's probably only five foot four, five foot five, small frame slender, very femme in form, but masculine in presentation, shorn head, this big dramatic eye makeup that almost looks like they've prepared themselves for this moment. And there's this big eye street smiley face that runs across in this

black eyeliner to eyeshadow. And they have completely blacked out their neck with this big streak of almost like a fiking-esque battle paint. They are wearing this big overcoat and this oversized 80s blazer with these built in shoulder pads, this half coated dress shirt that goes down to about half their chest and shows a bunch of tattoos that are peeking out, a Kevlar body armor vest that sits underneath. And then it looks to be two small submachine guns that have been strapped onto thigh holsters, these tight pants that fit into a pair of Doc Martens that again have these spray painted yellow smiley faces right where your skull might be when they kick it in. Borough's instinctively reaches for a samurai sword and, oh, shit.

Champagne, put on that! Sitting in the darkness with that samurai sword preparing. Cisco shows absolutely no expression outside of that painted on smile. So they have Hugh grappled out with the sword? So imagine that Hugh is captured with one hand and this massive, what probably should be a two-handed sword is cut up against his neck primed in a hostage situation. All right, now Morpheus or Trinity, I can't tell which one you resemble more. Let's take it easy here. They both work.

Let's have a conversation. I just heard some things that I think we need some clarification on. Now don't you step out of the shadows, yeah. Good, like mines. Hi. So what I just heard, something I've been a little suspicious on, is that all of you are planning to play turncoat to the Camarilla and use this one as a bargaining chip to the other side. I'm a part of the Anarchs. I'm a part of the Anarchs, so I have to protect my own interests. As you know, I am Elysia Azon and Hugh is a member of the Anarchs.

Go ahead and make a manipulation plus subterfuge to see if you can try and fight for the idea that they were doing this for you. While that role is happening, minor clarification, does he know that everybody is here? Or is it just the select few who have? The storefront itself looks out on like mead. The parking lot is directly right adjacent, meaning that anyone who stayed in the car, there's a chance Cisco doesn't know. Well, thank God. Okay. I was going to say, Enoch and I were still in the car, technically.

Yeah, I would. My hope would be that my at the very least myself, but hopefully myself and Allison can avoid him not knowing, avoid him knowing that we're here. Got it. The where we quiet our sound or silence, we're going to make sure like the defenses are all up. Got it. What did you have for your role now? Three successes. Listen, all of this is not adding up and event after event after event leads back to you people. I was sent here by the prince to bring something very precious back to him.

And the way that I see it, there's two options. First option is your man was telling the truth. He did know about something down in the lake. And I'm going to walk down there. I'm going to fetch it. And I'm going to bring it back to Aloysius. Or two, your man is a Malkavian who should not be allowed to speak for all of you. He has nothing and he sees to the punishments associated with such. Now, one or the other is going to happen, but what can happen in between both of those options?

All depends on what you're all about to say to me. Cisco, I recognize your loyalty to the Cam and what I'm about to tell you, you have to trust me when I say it's in everyone's best interest that you don't find anything. Here that you go back to the prince and you tell him another nutty Malkavian said something wild. And when things have cooled down, we could have another conversation with you, or maybe we go into more detail about this. But I think deep down you want to prevent a war. I for sure as hell don't want to start a war.

Let's let's agree to just walk away from this and in time we can clarify what's going on here. Go ahead and roll me. I'd say this is manipulation, right? Are you with me on that? Yeah, I think so. I mean, I don't feel loyal to Cisco anymore, but I'm also appealing just to the general. They seem like a logical person, right? They don't seem like they fly off the handle like some folks.

I'm trying to make them understand that now is not the time to have this conversation. And you seem like a reasonable enough person that what is down there, you probably don't want to bring up here. Yeah, let's go manipulation plus persuasion. Persuasion, two, three. Okay, here we go. That's three successes total. Okay.

So say I agree, boroughs, John. Say we go that route. Am I guaranteed that conversation? Or do I only make it long enough to turn to ash? When I say I'm going to do something, I stick to my word. You want to know more when things are calm, when we can talk about this in a strategic manner? Hell yeah, I'll have that conversation with you. And this really would ruin the truce more so than this fool.

And they cast their eyes down at Q. This is bigger than the truth. This could wipe out all of Vegas. I'm worried if what's down there gets mishandled. This thing needs to be touched like an atom bomb. So there really is something down there then? I'll give you that much. There is something down there and all of us have seen it.

And I think we can all agree that you don't want any part of it, not now. And I don't think either side should have it because it'll definitely set off a fucking war. Pardon my French. It seems as though from general insight, even though their face is highly expressionless, that Cisco is at least taking this into consideration. The sword has not at all lifted from Hugh's neck. And it's very clear that they have no indication of dropping it yet, but they're at least considering.

What will it take on my part for you to forget this? I need honesty. Above all, I need to know why you're doing this. I need to know why this is the play for the Lusomber in Las Vegas. I need to know how this benefits you and me. It benefits us because our clan isn't blamed for ending a truce on the already bloody list that we've already established. It doesn't give the prince any more power.

It doesn't give the Anarchs any more power. It keeps the status quo, which for now benefits us. Are you defecting? No. So you're still with the Camarilla? I was never with the Camarilla by choice. No, but I'm asking your allegiance now. I need to know whether I'm going to have to kill you later.

Isn't that always a danger? Yes. Now answer the question. I don't think my answer right now is going to change the fact that you might have to kill me later anyway. The prince says jump you say how high, right? If you're choosing to masquerade this from me, I'm running out of options. I'm not hiding anything from you.

I'm just telling you the truth. You wanted the truth, that's the truth. No matter what I tell you right now, there is still a chance you're going to have to kill me later. Why does my answer now make a difference? Go ahead and make a manipulation plus persuasion here. We're role playing the shit out of broke deciding whether it becomes the actual boss battle. I'm going to use a world power to reroll. We are not in a space.

What in the general store? Five successes. I got two tens. Fine. Listen, we're going to have a conversation about all this. Yeah. This conversation is going to happen independent of any allegiances, whatever they are, and they give a very pointed look at now.

And we're going to decide what happens next. You know where I sit, where I have to sit. I have no other choice. So consider the new generation at least waved from this situation. I will do what I want. We'll do what I can to inform the prince that there wasn't anything here. But there's a loose end and I think we all understand. I don't know that I can let this go unpunished.

And they cascade their eyes slowly down to Hugh. Now he's going to take him out. They're going to take him out. Please don't. That'll start the war, won't it? This is Ellis's right hand. If you do this, you will cause the war. And what it Maljah said.

The trouble is, and what it Maljah said. The trouble is, if they live, the war starts anyway. Haven't you taken out enough of their people already? Isn't that punishment enough? I don't know. I didn't start this one. Believe it or not, they ambushed me.

Funny how that works. And they look around at the ash that is lying in this place. This one, he's important to you? And Cisco makes direct eye contact with you, Niles? Yes. How important? And Hugh speaks up, you don't have to do this. You don't have to do this.

It's just, it's okay. You can go back to Ellis. You can tell him, you tried your best. You got what you needed. The lake is safe. What would it take? A promise? A favor?

Fine, a favor. You're going to come work with me. You and Mal. What does a gangro have to offer you in the Sheriff Department? Everything. Do you accept? Fine. The sword is removed and thrown to the ground with this clatter of metal that sets to the floor.

And Cisco straightens themselves up and lets go of Hugh who falls down to the floor and picks himself up and stands immediately ready to fight until he realizes it's not coming to that. And steps terribly, terribly hurt back to your line. Cisco stands before all of you. I need a time, a date, and a location for our conversation. What's your calendar look like? I can clear some days. Just send it to me.

We'll talk then. But understand this, you live by my appointment. You walk by my appointment. You are now all indebted in your unlives by this moment. And the second that I decide that you do not exist anymore, you'll be wearing ashes the same as he. And Cisco points immediately at Hugh who is again caked in his friends. Understood?

Understood. Thank you for seeing sense. Of course. Well, this has been exciting. All of you put on a happy face you won. Earl's just starts taking Hugh to the car. And immediately Cisco disappears for your eyes. Okay.

They're so cool, but they're so fucking scary. I'm going to go help Burroughs help Hugh into the car. It's clear that Hugh is within a few seconds of torpor, of seriously needing help. But you hobbled him back out to baby blue with Burroughs and eased him into the back seat. There you can see Allison and Enoch are there completely silent. I'm going to turn to Niles and say, listen, are you the opinion that you're going to continue to play both sides? I don't know right now.

I said whatever I needed to do to you. Yeah, you don't have to say anymore. Listen, how about I drive Hugh to Alice? Make sure he also gets there okay. I can have a conversation with them that I've been meaning to have with him anyway. I should go with you. I don't want to leave him behind. You've done enough already, but if you want to come, you're welcome.

I should go with you. I should talk to Ellis. Well, I sure wish there was plenty of space in the back of my vehicle. I sure hope there's nobody occupying it right now. Don't worry, nothing's happening. He's just bleeding. Well, yeah, this invisible person you're talking about, Allison. I'm not invisible.

I'm just deadly silent. Oh, yeah, you can see us right now. You just can't hear us. Unless you want to go to the anarchs, I think you guys might need to hitch a ride somewhere else. Somebody needs to take my bike back. I can. Dibs. Scratch it.

We go. And we'll have a different conversation, please. Where do you want the bikes, Niles? Canaan, Bogum, Church. Wait, wait, wait, wait. We're just going to take the bikes back. Do we need not to go into the lake, or do we? No.

Okay. Okay. We've stopped it. You stopped it. Good. Through brilliant negotiation. What's safer for you? That's to go back to Canaan, or to go back to the bubblegum mansion?

I mean, we're fine now, supposedly, so we can go back to Canaan, I guess. You're going to have to be in the city anyway to take him to Ellis, so. Might be better to have your bike at Canaan anyway. I'll drive whoever needs to get to Canaan, I'll drive you there. We got to put some more things together to get that club in order. I'm focusing back on that. That's the easiest thing for me to do. Okay, so yeah, I guess we'll drive out of there with Hugh.

My intention is to drop everybody off at Canaan, but I will leave Canaan with Hugh and whoever wants to come with me, and I will head to Anarch territory. With that intention, we're going to go to 10-15 minute break here, and when we return, whoever would like to, we'll meet the Anarchs, and the rest of us will have a lot of free time to accomplish whatever we think we need to accomplish. So we'll be back after our break. That's weird. Oh, no.

Lovely. Welcome back, everyone. We are entering into a unique situation where many of the new generation have decided that maybe the Camarilla is not for them. That may be a decision made after a series of terrible catastrophes caused by themselves that have led many of the Camarilla to hate them. Whether that's a coincidence or not, who knows. But sometimes it's just not the right fit, and you've got to look for other employment.

With that being said, our dear new generation has stopped off, I believe, on their way through to Club Canaan to drop off the members who will not be in attendance when we go to see the Anarchs. I would like to know now, when we arrive at, whoa, excuse me, that's a different podcast entirely. When we arrive at Club Canaan, is there anyone who's staying here? Who's going to the Anarchs? Who's not? Is my question.

I know I'm not going to the Anarchs, but the club is not really probably the best place for us. Yeah, the reason I'm covering my face is because I'm not sure the club is the best spot for me right now, but I'm definitely not going to the Anarchs now. Okay, so we will discern where the Kingsters are going after we, we will discern where the couple is going after we discern who else is not going with the Anarchs. Do I have, Mal? I'm also not going with the Anarchs because I told Cisco that I wasn't necessarily defecting, and I think if I go straight there, they'll assume that I am.

That's a fair play. I'm going to, I'm going to not go. I didn't tell them I was or wasn't, but I think if I went, it would be read a certain way. There. Okay, perfect. So then it's safe to assume that Barrow's Sibyl. Yes. Barrow's Sibyl and Niles are going to the Anarchs.

And we'll go. You sure about this Sibyl? No. But I, I feel like Sibyl doesn't understand that she wants to make sure that Niles is okay and is trying to find a tactical reason to go. And it's just like, this is, this is the safest way. Right? That's, it's better.

And maybe I'll just be in the car. I can keep the car warm, but that might be the best course of action. All right, fair enough. Understood. So Barrow's Sibyl and Niles, are you all taking out in baby blue? Did you go with me? I'll go with, I'll go with baby blue. Okay.

So the three of you take off towards Fremont Street, which is not too far. Before they leave. Yeah. Is it, is it possible? Sibyl, do you, is it possible for you to make a, do you have like another snake, a guard snake? That I can borrow? Okay. I want to spend some time clearing up some understanding about me and snakes.

I don't keep snakes. They're just in Vegas and I bring one to me. Would you like me to bring one? Don't you have a whole dog? First of all, I'm watching the dog. The distinguished gentleman is not my dog. It is our, it is a roommate that we cherish. Rufus does pick up his half blind face.

He's got those cataract eyes that are especially goopy today. The half nod-eared and everything. He looks up as though he's recognized that you all are speaking of him. He looks that it, you know, if someone were to walk through this club with a pack full of high-grade explosives that he would just nod his head to the man and allow him his day. Yeah, so we're going to just count Rufus out on any sort of participatory obligations for this place. You said you wanted a snake.

I mean, that was the last one. You got like Kendrick. Yeah, I can get you another snake. It won't be the same as Kendrick. Oh, but I can't, I can just tell it to, okay, whatever. I'm going to summon a snake. Okay. Is that a, I hope it's on a rouse check.

I really can't afford to frenzy you on a snake. Yeah, I want to remind you all you still have any. Frenzy, snake, frenzy, snake. That's okay, that's okay. You don't have to. It's just, I didn't know if you had it on you. No, I don't. I don't want to put Rufus out.

I think we should pack up. I'm going to pack up. Can I borrow your bike? I'm going to borrow your bike for a while. My bike? Yeah. Kind of go see one of our buddies. Something like Rufus can get,

you know, get out get some fresh sort of air. Okay. I will allow you to take my bike, but if you break my bike, Allison, I swear to God. Please, just, please don't make me finish the sentence. Oh, okay. I didn't want to be rude and cut you off. So that's why I just, okay.

I'm going to take the key and the twirl it. I'm going to get the key. I won't scratch it intentionally, if I do, which I won't. But life. Allison's going to go help you into the car. Okay. I'm going to just get Rufus. Like I'm going to just kind of grab things

like anything that could help. Do we need anything for vampires? I mean, we did a lot of things. We got a lot of things. Long less. We've needed much because we're vampires. Yeah. Yeah, but we got hot.

Hue on the way to the car sort of leans over to you and goes, you know, I never really believe the stories, but now that I've experienced these people, I kind of get it. I get it all. Like the hospital makes so much sense to me now. I am. And ironically, I didn't do anything about it. That wasn't even my fault.

Right in Hue's face. That's what I was trying to tell you. It's one of the few things I wasn't lying about. I yeah, I owe you an apology in some weird way. This feels like my fault. It's fine. I think it'll you've paid enough. Alice is going to love them.

Eventually, if you all are really going to work with us, you're going to have to bring them all. But this is a good group. And he looks about to burrows and to some more. As long as he will hear us out. They're definitely going to hear you. Yeah. Oh, good.

You're going to have to answer for your crimes first. But yeah. What crimes are those? Well, they think you guys pulled off the hospital job. Am I wrong in that? I don't really know if it's. It's more like a Malkavian primogen spinning things. We should talk more about it once we're with Ellis and the rest.

That's that's going to be probably their first concern. And depending on your answer, you either get to live and continue defending your case. Or well, you know, mass execution sort of thing. Right. But they're reasonable. They're all reasonable. They'll they'll hear you out.

It should be all of the barons tonight. That's good. Great. I think we'll make our way. Yeah. Okay. So the Anarchs team takeoff and baby blue. I want to know real quick what Mal is up to.

Mal's a little busy. Let's go to the couple. Couple, Alice and Enoch. What are you guys going to run off to while we divert to the Anarchs? Fuck, I don't know. OK, that's fair. I I'm just going to I'm just going to be like, it's too hot above and everywhere.

The only below. Yeah. With Rufus. There's not not a whole a whole lot of a lot of options. Oh, I'm a very aware. I wouldn't be suggesting sewers, not in this outfit, which we got to go change. So.

Lovely. So it looks like the couple is going down to the sewers. Mal, do you have an intention? Mal is not going to go to the Nosferatu. Mal is just going to go back to the church on it. OK, we're going to start with the Anarchs. You are driven out to Fremont Street. It is that busy, beautiful, electronically painted roofed in area.

There is every manner of life on this street between tourists and locals. It must be an even split. There is a huge amount of street performers of drunks of beautiful women, beautiful men, beautiful everyone. And they're ugly, ugly counterparts. There are folks vomiting off the side of the street. There are people who are going to be on the street. There are people shadily walking down alleyways.

There are disgusting, dirty spots of the street as equal as it is clean. There are people hawking shoe cleaning services. There are people trying desperately to get you to give them your last $20. There are people trying to convince you that their resort is the best and trying to walk you in through the latest slot machines and get you desperately to spend your money, your time, your being, your everything. They just want a snip of it. They just want a piece of it, enough to take home, enough to make something new,

enough that you're empty. But eventually, you round a set of segmented transitional staircases to the balcony level of the establishments that look over the main stretch of Fremont Street. It is this second floor sort of strip mall Paris. The coterie, you turn and get a view of what Niles already knows is a bar called the Belvedere. It is a strong, stuck-out building in a shade of deep brown with sleek black accents. The windows are brick and painted to match the wall, but you can still see where the structure was modified to black out the bar.

The building forms a set of a sort of veranda on the top roof, the first floor serving as a long rectangular bar, and the second floor as a full-on rooftop lounge where you can already see tabled groupings staring out at the view and sipping cocktails. The Belvedere takes up the entire corner of the second floor balcony level and has a line out and down another set of stairs that fills out immediately into Fremont gives this perfect view of all of the action of this place and he immediately points it out as your destination.

He walks you in past a set of bouncers who eye you all very suspiciously. They look like biker types who have been dressed up far more than they're usually comfortable with. These big beards that have been tightened with beads and then pulled back hair, but it looks not even close to chic. It is not walking into the arcade hotel. These people are real people, locals of Vegas, very down-to-earth individuals. As inside you're greeted with an upscale western, southwestern experience. The huge square bar in the center of the first floor

and sectioned off matching booths that line each of the walls. In between forming a sort of transition area are crowds of people sitting at tables, standing in groups, creeping to the bar area. This place looks absolutely packed for this night. There's little to no walking space at this time of night and the bar is brimming with blood. In fact, so many of you feel so damn hungry that you know that if you tried any harder than you needed to you could easily find something to drink on this floor. The kind you could get drunk off just to taste from.

The lighting is dim beyond belief, largely lit by candlelight and vintage lantern sconces along the wall. Small, rustically curated chandeliers perimeter the center of the bar. Everyone in the bar matches a certain type, most of those sitting down screen Vegas local and those standing answer in equal volume to tourists. The bar is excessively upscale, especially for Fremont, and something that says you're here for an experience, not a bill you can't pay. There's a sort of presence here among this abdued cocktail cigar smoke vibe, something in the leering stairs from some of the patrons.

You can tell they might be kindred, they might be ghouls, whatever they are, some of them are keeping an eye on you even as you enter. Hugh moves to Schmooze for a moment just on the floor, but eventually he returns bringing all of you still huddled and hurt in his position, casting with a hurried hand at a set of staircases that lead up to a VIP section in the second floor of the bar itself. At the top of the stairs you step out onto a veranda and are greeted with an empty second floor. The hairs stand up on your back as you realize all of the people you saw

from the sidewalk line up at the rooftop bar do not exist. There's this strange trick of the mind as you realize that the crowds of people that must have been taking up the second floor bar were some sort of illusory fantastical experience because none of them are here present. Your mind boggles over this as there's no way they would have had time enough to remove some 60 people in a manner of seconds. Immediately to your attention are a few people that parade around this veranda. There's a beautiful young blonde woman in her early 20s in a long wispy translucent white dress

and black lingerie underdressing that is shining through the white shear. She is absolutely stunning so much that your mind is fogged over by the sight of her even at this distance. Your vision tunnels each time her red painted lips begin to fire back in conversation as she is in a very heated debate from a distance with a tall broad blonde man and a sheepskin coat. Niles you would recognize him immediately as Ellis. He's wearing a sharp dress shirt and a bolo tie and he is determined in the argument between the two but trying to hold back some obvious feelings. He is handsome in a way that requires little effort but still reflects a very harsh life lived deep set in wrinkles scars cuts and healing has marred

his face with the travels of time. The most notable is a scar that has mangled his lower lip at the edge to give him a poorly healed split. Despite all this he looks impossibly young for his age and spry in his step. He's a fireball of energy in this debate and looks ready to take on the bulls. Adjacent to that as their argument lives on the beautiful woman claims to the other very violently enough for you all to hear the threshold that what you're doing is only going to get people killed to which he retorts that a loss of life is just as inevitable if they do nothing. It is quickly squashed as they all turn to see that you all have arrived at this moment. They step away from each other to cool off immediately as if no conversation had been

going on when you arrive. To the far corner is a rail thin man with a pointed face standing by the balcony looking out on Fremont. To the other side is the familiar face Baron Shelley who is square who her and her squared off head are sitting directly by bride in one corner. Finally the final familiar face another bearded heavy set individual with thin wire frame glasses and a three-piece suit hastily put on is in a seat beside Ellis. You recognize this as the man from the Hikata mansion. It's obvious that all eyes and ears are on him as soon as the argument has ended. A few other obviously less important figures some of the kindred openly sipping a plus one guest to the balcony other ghoul confidants with pistol holsters at one side two of them standing

by the arguing couple other patrons trying not to look on the disagreement but the rest is left to all of you. Hugh steps to the center in front of everyone and the blonde woman leaves past the ghouls and begins to step behind the coterie watching us all of you step in listening paying attention but not giving any camaraderie to the rest of the individuals but you're all ushered into this center and all is extremely quiet as the cowboy rises from his seat in that sheepskin coat takes this deep breath and holds his hands in the belt loops of his chains and just sort of measures each one of you up left to right. I think Burroughs will feel the silence and decide to fill it and um you know I think um I think he knows the anarchs are probably he's gonna make a guess

that the anarchs are different enough from the Camarilla that a curt sea or too much pageantry is probably not going to go well so he's just gonna go right into a more formal he's gonna introduce himself I don't believe we've ever met but I've been meaning to meet you for a little while Ellis my name is John Burroughs yeah I heard a little bit around you around here a little bit now a little bit before and god none of it lives up to it does it he steps forward and he puts a hand out and he reaches for your hand gives it a steady incredibly firm shake you can feel his forearm tense just a little as he meets you I want you to meet two dear friends of mine they're Sybil here I'll gesture to them nice to meet you it's an honor to meet you as well

and you might already know Niles Niles and myself are well acquainted yes we uh ran into each other after a little miscommunication at a bar when I think maybe you all have heard the story Niles is surprisingly secretive but I think we can infer what's going on yeah look I'm gonna cut straight to it um first of all here's Hugh we saved him from being killed by the sheriff you know who I'm referring to is this Alex stops for a moment and stares in at Hugh brings him in close pats him on the back of the head gives him a kiss on the lips and then it squirts him back to the sort of squared out seating and sits him down clearly telling that he's hurt the relationship as you watch them interact is definitely one of father

to son it's close it's connected he does press his forehead to Hughes for a moment before sitting them back down and it's clear that Hugh is extremely deferential to Alice comparative to Hugh before having opinions and conversations and offering to all of you it seems that he has shut his mouth since Alice has taken the floor but he comes back to Hugh Burroughs and looks to Niles and says well it was my understanding that you all were the ones asked him to go out there in the first place I don't know very well that you could say saved if well he was doing y'all a favor you're not wrong listen um that's why they let me talk yeah look um I want to have a conversation with you in private uh mostly to do with something I want to tell you the rest of the folks that are

with me maybe they have something else to say but uh I like as a private as an of an audience as I can afford with you Mr Burroughs what constitutes private for yourself do you mind if the Baron's here or is this conversation for you and the Baron of Fremont Street and he gestures to so many people he looks to defrain he looks to the woman in the back yeah rail skinned individual in the corner to Shelley to bride no no I think what I need to say does need to be heard by everybody in this room I just want to give the floor to Sybil and Niles if they have anything else to say what I'm about to say is not on their behalf I understand we can definitely get to private conversations but I think before we open the floor to our honored guests I think we have some

explaining to do to each other right I think it's all in the interest of being better people that we speak plainly of the elephant in the room we put the tiger up on the table and we uh chat this thing out huh yeah yes you're talking about the hospital I'm talking about the hospital you see we received um a little bit of communication from the new Prince of Las Vegas former Prince of New Orleans former Prince of uh Miami uh one Aloysius Aloysius Freeman uh you know I I haven't much got to know this Prince I definitely like I like him a lot less uh well a lot more than the last one given last one I cut his fucking head off but you know as far as princes go this is at least marginally better uh he writes in this flowery little language that reminds me of Lydia over here

he points over to that beautiful woman in a white dress you see sometimes you can just smell the blood off of someone's penmanship no one should ever have to be forced to learn cartography I'll tell you that or what the fuck is that word calligraphy that's the one if you got to learn how to use a pen you're using it fucking wrong just make the goddamn letters this anyways I received a letter that informed me that I was oh I don't know how the fuck he said it that I had stepped on his dick I never stepped on that man's dick in my life listen I got news that some sort of a hospital went up in flames and that uh some uh Las Vegas's finest uh ended up dead in the wake of some sort of slaughter and this was

made as to be an attempt on the life of Emrick now I've never seen that oily greasy little fucking old shit never in my life have I laid eyes on whatever fucked up machinations that wheelchair drive and fuck is up to so it came as a surprise to myself that I would be subjected to something that I did not do now I have done a lot if you want to accuse me of things that God I'll get your lips but not something I didn't do so then I got to thinking and I was pointed towards all you I'm gonna look to the other two if you mind if I just tell them the truth for what happened that night I think so we um we're part of a coterie for now at least and uh a couple members of that coterie got a little zealous using their abilities started

a bit of a riot a bit of a ruckus I mean and um we think that the Malkavian primogen is or was using this little kerfuffle as an a way to pretend like they could blame something on you and start a war uh Sybil here has spoken to uh what's that guy's name again uh the prince before or the Malkavian I'm talking about the Malkavian that's up in the hospital oh yes Emrick is Emrick is is totally playing a public yeah he's a public supporter of former prince Arthur cost and is somewhat motivated to start a war seemingly just on that information but also the descriptions you used uh to describe Emrick are entirely accurate good and we're here because we know you're the bigger man between the two that you know that

once you learn that this is just uh old Emrick trying to tickle your balls and get you all agitated this is just uh something you can ignore well you keep talking sweet like that I'm gonna start shitting sugar um listen uh I will allow both Sybil and Burroughs Burroughs you can make charisma plus persuasion Sybil you can make a manipulation plus persuasion you guys are telling the honest truth uh you're putting yourself forward you're spitting it exactly as he thought it was you're in a good favor two successes five successes you can feel the entire room is measuring you up in fact even that rail thin individual with this long almost wet soaked hair down to his shoulder blades this very mousy angular featured uh almost looks like the lead singer to 30 seconds

to Mars um standing over there in this very long overcoat um stares over at the rest of you and uh you get the attention of the heavy set man that that beautiful woman in the back who is snirking to herself as he sees she watches the two southern individuals try to out southern themselves um and this whole room suddenly becomes sort of at a lull at a complete standstill against the tension of what Ellis is going to say and the heavy set individual speaks up and says uh well if what they're saying is true it only makes sense uh I mean they'd be looking to break the truth as soon as they can if they're trying to get back to costs uh situation and you knew you would make enemies off of this Ellis and uh from the back that beautiful woman

pipes up as well speaks uh Ellis you can't honestly be considering allowing these people to live after what they've done I mean how many more issues can we allow them to make and then from the corner that wired individual no I like them keep them he casts his hand um and Shelly uh speaks privately with bride a moment uh and bride stands up oh my god bride is here yes right yeah wait how is bride here this changes everything yes bride is in the corner with Shelly did you hear that earlier yeah I missed it yeah no I already heard okay I hit you with like 50 different descriptions it's one of those vod descriptions where you gotta go back and find out who the fuck's actually in this room um hopefully I'll get

better at those in the future uh bride stands up uh her you know five foot nothing frame and there's big powerful bun back behind and she's still wearing that beautiful veil of hers although today it's white um and very bejeweled with these beautiful pearls but she speaks up and says um I'm very fond of these ones Ellis if you could bring it into your heart that you could keep them around I understand that some of us are against it but I can vouch personally for all of each and everyone especially Ellis and Ellis puts a hand up as she starts to get a little uppity and and he scratches at this blonde beard of his he stops a moment he stares especially at you boroughs but then kind of glides down at the other two well listen what you're saying makes complete sense

and the fact that oh well the rest of you don't actually have a reason for causing any of this to break in a truce outside of being dumb ass is uh I mean I can't see how this is your fault I think maybe you're a victim of circumstance and I think that maybe you're a lot younger than you think you are and I think that gets in the way of um thinking with a wider scope that was the problem of a lot of the last administration was closed-minded thinking thinking we were the only thing in this universe and Arthur cost had this belief he believed that he couldn't fail and that's the only surefire way that you're gonna it's the only way I could get to him and this new Vegas it's not what I want yet it's not what I set out to be in there's so many things all of us and he

gestures to the other parents all of us want to see a chief among them is a place where kindred and kind alike live to their circumstance this place was made for the runabouts the people who have no place to go but those of us who just can't do anything without fucking up this place was made for the castoffs and the second that you allow people like cost people like alwishes people like the Camarilla monsters like the ivory tower you're opening yourself to the idea that your freedom is stripped from you for the sure purpose that someone believes that you can't do what you set out to do I absolve you you won't be dying tonight and I won't be taking any action against you consider yourself in my home to be safe and that goes for all the other barons am I in a

coordinates and everyone pipes up with some form of agreement you can speak plainly in my home and I hope for all of us that you have something to bring us thank you of course of course I your words strike me to be honest with you because I've been thinking a lot about what I'm doing with my second laugh and I don't think it's uh I don't think it's as productive and I don't think I'm as happy with the Camarilla and I think that uh I need to make a very simple and obvious choice I'm a country boy who loves Jesus uh Ellis and uh amen I think I'm an anarch all the way are you oh hell that's quite the declaration you're making there boy I like that now I want

to state that uh Niles and especially Sybil this might not necessarily go for them but there are people we can trust and well maybe I can say in communication with them in some way and be a kind of buffer uh maybe a way of alleviating any more steam or or heat that comes on us from the Cam but go between in a sense I'd want to do that for you he eyes you up and starts to consider this and in fact it looks as though there's now some conversation between the heavy said individual and the woman from behind um and there's a moment that there is conversation and Ellis excuses himself from all of you for moments that he can go back and speak with them um go ahead and make a manipulation plus uh persuasion here uh rose okay or manipulation plus politics whichever is higher

four total four total successes okay he comes back to you you know Fremont Street was the first place that offered gambling in this hellhole and he points out past the balconies there out on Fremont Street and points out to a casino called the Golden Gate points that he does that used to be a club that was the first ever gambling hall in this God forsaken land and eventually uh eventually someone decides you're not worth what you've been given in this world a lot of people see that as a competing ideology I've always seen it as a complete total loss of freedom the rich in this world decide who's free and us the outlaws

abide by it for the impossible chance to steal their seat that's what happens to the first ever gambling hall they strike out and do something brand new and then within a few weeks someone richer is doing the same thing in the same place for more profit and then an outlaw will strike up two blocks from it doing the same damn thing something revolutionary something beautiful something brand new I'm looking for revolutionaries boroughs civil Niles I want people to take back things I want them to make it theirs I want us to make this place exactly what we imagine and if what you're offering means some sort of back channel here's how I see it and he looks to the other barons and it's clear that they've had at least

some counsel on this if you could guarantee the truth the loyalty and the constant communication between myself my barons and your team we would like to see all of you flourish in this city but as what was that word you use go-betweens as go-betweens as oh shit what's the phrase spies because there's something on cusp of happening something that you nearly stepped yourselves into and that is war and in this war we need a steady line of communication and understanding of what the other side is trying to get out of everything so if you could put yourselves forward as someone who can play both sides and you think you can do so without drawing the ire and the understanding of the prince then I would be more than willing to give you home safety

understanding culture family and hell your freedom back it's all I've really ever wanted I'll look at Niles and Sibyl kind of gauging to see how involved they are in the conversation but Burroughs just kind of presses forward and says to give you an indication as to how revolutionary I'm willing to get I buried my samurai sword in between the eyes of champagne budinesca tonight uh he puts on this giant grin and looks back to the heavy set individual and then the heavy set individual starts to grin and it seems as though about half the room starts to like uproar and laughter ellis especially as he turned back to you you you put a blade in champagne budinesca's face I gotta get to live with that title for as

long as uh before he comes to get me holy shit no wonder you came here you came seeking asylum yeah yeah I'll admit to that part of the story too yeah I need a little bit of help I don't know if I should get in business with you I don't know how much longer you got hey you said you wanted a revolutionary you want something to do something crazy for you you're looking at the man fucking daredevil you got on this one all right well if you go toe to toe with champagne budinesca on the regular then maybe it's best if I have you on my side just so you're not on the others look uh to what you were saying earlier I'm gonna do what I can to uh getting your good graces and to get that freedom that I want these two maybe they're the ones that go closer to the

Camarilla than me I I don't want to be like them and I feel a kinship with you I want to be with people that I that I know I'm more like so I'll communicate with this team but I can't go to the camp I don't think I can show my face around there for at least a little while well maybe you could be our voice on the ground here keep you far from from point of view but we we need operation I mean the Camarilla think they're going to war I've been at war since the second I took that fuckers head off I never stopped playing it so I got room for generals and I got room for spies but bottom line is I need each each of you if you can't get core them amongst your group and I know it's larger than those in attendance then I can't take you and you're not one of mine

and all miles what do you want to say all I've ever operated in is the Camarilla I'm not even confident that I could exist in this space no offense just being aware of my own capabilities but I believe in what both of you have said if my most helpful position is exactly where I am then I'm all for it now I think that we've had a discussion on where you stand correct yes um and I mean Sheriff Cisco asked me to help them with whatever it is so maybe that's a better place for me okay it sounds like

sounds like maybe the three three of you haven't understand it the four of us well excuse me all of us and he gestures to the other barons we can all work together then huh I can see it working I'd like that the issue is you got to come back to me with the others and others what he looks to you four others so you guys and you nods back I don't need them all all or nothing because I can't take one of you and risk the others getting away here's the thing and Sybil now as you can speak up if you want but we got one of them that's rotten to the core I don't think they're going to be someone you can trust but I suppose no one that you can't trust them is already have the battle

I see I think it's important to keep positions in every perspective burrows has offered himself as the neutral middle I've positioned myself as more camera leaning and this loose cannon that burrows is describing is I think the far end of the spectrum on the Camarilla if we need to keep him somewhat ignorant for the success of the plan then we should so we would lie to one of you to spare the others and benefit us all yes well I got some loose cannons myself I know how that goes he takes a step looks to the rail thin individual at the balcony sometimes you have to accept that someone's worth the

trouble they offer so I'd be remiss if I didn't say that I I could go along with this if you can bring the others in the Corum we'll keep that one in the dark for as long as you see it useful and should anything come to it I can arrange for things to be handled if we need them to be perfect you are as uh as gracious as I've as now's this mentioned you are oh good good good good you haven't heard the other stories then no they told me the other ones too oh shit well listen when I get upset with people I chop their heads off shorter that I'm pretty nice um noted but we've been talking a lot about what

you're gonna do for me and what this new world's gonna look like after I have you behind enemy lines it's obviously I am not one to understand I know the dog needs a carrot what do you need I just need uh to lay low for a little while and I need friends I need people I know I can trust and when I have information I can come to you and I just want to establish a relationship with people that feel well that still feel like they're like me that you know we're trying to do some good in this town and the three of us and the rest of the coterie we we know something about this town that is important and I'm willing to share that with you but there's a level of trust we need to build that well that we're gonna make the right decisions with this information

well gotta say he got me a little a little riled up just thinking about what you might know shit you got something I don't obviously I want to hear it I won't be one to you know put the car before the horse if you think we gotta build some trust I'm all for some trust building exercises I'd be willing to tell you if it was just you and I it's that important and it would make the two heads of the two sides know exactly the same thing hey hmm you mean the prince has got something I don't you know something you don't yes

all right fine we can talk privately if you want and if you think it's that important that you need to tell the rest of your parents far be it for me to stop you oh god and not lower it over that I have something they don't I don't think so fuck y'all and he points out the rest of they all laugh um why don't we uh why don't you step into my office over here civil now's you good you want to come along it seemed important that it's private now's a mom making a mistake no I trust you all right yeah you all look positively uh scared to shit it's been a long night else

all right he steps away he takes you into his office which is really just uh like a veranda storage closet that's off the side of this floor um he turns on the overhead lamp it shuts the door behind him uh he makes it clear that you go in first unless you make a hub up out that nope and he puts his back against the door he crosses his his arms over that big sheep lined uh coat yeah I think I'll give him as much information as paints the picture without getting into too many details um through deduction and dumb luck we came upon what seems to be something hidden at the bottom of lake mead a door of some kind um you know all of this being said in burrows is flavorful language of like describing things um and you know I make it clear

that our intentions tonight were to try to get a key another half of a key that we believe the Camarilla has we believe that Kerr has that other half but we wanted to get it to the anarch so that both parties could be could have some kind of balance but right here we are I have information at best you know and I just kind of share this with them give me a wits plus insight roll wits okay plus insight okay I've got decent insight only one success burrows it's hard to read him um he's very stoic he's obviously got the countenance of someone that almost reminds you of like your father and your grandfather it's that sort of southern silence that comes about him and you can't even truly see through that expression

into anything that makes any palpable sense except you get the feeling he didn't know all this I get that I can you know I can totally sense that but for burrows it's about evening the scale more so than than you know really like getting some kind of favor something like that I just want to make sure both parties completely understand the stakes burrows he looks grateful by the end of it he looks to you says I puts his a hand on your shoulder if you let him yeah I think at this point burrows like Ellis reminds him of like people he's grown up with and stuff like that he's really probably if anything like almost like kind of jittery a little bit from just like how comfortable he wants to be and his feeling in this place listen kid this is

something that goes beyond any of it this goes straight to the center of Vegas you found a door some keys yeah you're telling me that he brought it over from Chicago from Rembrandt or excuse me not Chicago got so flustered Colorado you brought it straight from Colorado from Prince Rembrandt yes yeah and you fought off Inquisition just bring it here and then the bottom of Lake Mead you found a door with some some kind of creature garden I mean shit all I know is inevitably both sides are going to want to know more but I just I wanted to make sure the other side the side that seems a lot more reasonable to me your side at least understood what was down there and understood that I think what we should aim for is a way to keep both parties from getting

to it it's mutually a short destruction that kind of thing oh we don't want what's behind this door not till we know what it is at least yeah yeah yeah you're right I mean it'd be foolish to open something we don't know what's on the fucking other side right I mean you don't open a prison the second you get the keys to the fucking thing okay okay I'm gonna have to have a conversation with the other barons we're gonna we're gonna gel this all out I'm gonna take that information we're gonna pass it along I promise they're good people I don't I don't work with any worms but there's gonna have to be a conversation I mean Dufresne must know something he was at they caught a mansion presumably the same day you were I think it might be worth telling you that one of my team the

coterie they overheard him having a conversation with the the baroness saying that they owed him something oh shit yeah yeah well I mean that's why it was sent he was trying to get a book he's looking into um a book yeah what was that book about what was it it was belonging to the senior Rothstein and it's part of some of Dufresne's research a lot of chameer gobbledy fucking good it makes no goddamn sense but he's trying to as far as I can tell he's trying to marry two worlds and those two worlds do not want to get fucking married but if he can do what he's gonna do it's gonna be something that um well the prince would want it as bad as his fucking keys let me just say that so maybe it'd be best to introduce you all you you can get the lowdown on what he might

know about this Kerr individual since god knows I got no fucking clue and maybe you saw his book or something it's it we missed him it will be helpful to learn a little bit more about old Kerr and uh you know I've been known to make a pull of miracle out of my ass once a while maybe I could find this book for you hey I would stop keeping it up there fucker keep miracles on a hand Ellis uh I'm gonna put my hand out and say I think we both understand that uh we're in business yeah I think we are I just got one question before we go out there I mean I don't mean to get grim or anything but this is of utmost importance you got it I understand yeah are you Elvis I mean honestly you can just tell me I mean there are plenty of impersonators in town but

cock you just got to look at him I spent so many fucking years just disregarding all music god I heard him oh god oh assume you heard the rumors about me around town I heard a few things I mean the camera really like to say this they like to say that they like to say they got everybody on ice but you know you never truly know until somebody somebody says it now you you don't have to tell me if you don't want to but god if you were let's just say that the next time I see that prince I'm gonna say hey prince you might be the prince but I'm always gonna be the fucking king oh yeah he slams you by the shoulder he brings you in big for a big old hug I knew it was you god damn it I knew it's true now listen the

camera really they let me out of my fucking prison to how to keep that quiet so just keep it quiet please of course are you kidding me I'm starting a whole new life you know that's the whole reason I'm coming to you guys hell yeah third chance this is your time John this is this is gonna be good for you I'm gonna do right by you I promise I think I feel that this is maybe the start of a beautiful friendship I think it is god we gotta get you singing at the Belvedere let's I got some up I got some plans don't you worry about that all right he opens the door and escorts you back into the private veranda with everyone and he claps burrows on the back he looks everyone I think this might be the start of a beautiful arrangement between myself and

well what do you call yourselves take your time we call ourselves the name that we're gonna say new generation seems to be the most sensible thing but I think that's the clearest way to say it is in fact the new generation because if we say it a different way it might confuse people oh okay all right star trek new generation yeah that's great it's real snappy yeah and you can see that the woman in white is laughing behind all of me it's real good okay thank you um is there anything that we would like to accomplish here or can I cut away to one of our other parties here go for it yeah we can get away yeah now uh in the base of your church here you arrived back is there anything you'd like to

accomplish here uh yeah I'm gonna take my my stolen skin book um upstairs to my room um and what kind of this is a weird question what kind of wall is it is it center block is it like wood paneling is it just drywall I think that this would be largely stones center block unless you're in your room which would probably be like rind out with plaster and the things of that nature okay uh if I'm in my room I would like to lift up the tapestry of st. Catherine okay uh and start with uh with three-foot knife cutting a hole in the wall okay beautiful you cut that hole in the wall it's pretty easy to break through the plaster there's now this gaping hole there um and I'm just gonna set the book on like one of the

the oh what's what do they call the studs in the wall got it okay and then just cover it back up with the tapestry okay it is covered back behind you put the tapestry down it's like it was never there you pull a full on shashank redemption um and then oh I can't god damn it what's the plan is it your cell phone yeah I am gonna pull out my cell phone okay again as the losombra blood continues to pump very slowly the vitae making its way through your body unfortunately the curse of your being is that to be a shade on this planet unseen unknown and as far as you understand it never to use technology again as you look at this phone and so many of those dead pixels appear on

the front it is shining and flashing almost in strobe light form and every so often it chirps out these dead parroted uh pixelated noises mal holds it in front of their face and replays all the words that Niles told them without any of these specifics uh and tries to imagine how julian would have said everything that they said trying to replay it over and over again in your head trying to remember the words exactly as Niles relayed them to you it's difficult sometimes you feel like you got it wrong like it isn't his voice it's not what he would have said it's not what he would have called you what would he have said and sometimes the chirps from the phone hit this register that you think

it's like he's crawling through it like he's screaming through the other side trying to get to you and you think that if you can just concentrate harder you could find his voice how would he say what would he say what would it sound like even through the voicemail even through that tinged out noise what did he sound like mouse sits in it longer and longer and longer and then when it just feels like it's going to be the only thought they ever have anymore they're going to drop the phone on the bed and go downstairs to what we there's like a shitty there's an old old organ there yeah yes yeah uh so now it's going to go down to the organ now to their pocket they pull a an old film canister and they pop the top of it

and pull out a small multiple multi-folded piece of paper and they set it up in the uh on the music stand of the organ and very haltingly and having to check their hand staff plunk through the melody that is the closest to julian's voice i'll ever hear again and they just play it over and over and over until it starts to smooth out and it's nowhere near as pretty as when he wrote it or when he played it or when he sang it or when he did anything with it but it's close enough for now mal you think that you've come just the closest you can to the cusp of his voice as close as music could be made from that man and you drift back to the memories the thoughts

the knowledge that he's out there still somewhere making new music and speaking somewhere in another life where he can be heard and it says this sadness this deep emptiness the void from which your curse sits as that begins to wash over you there's a knock at the door but it's not below it's at the front door excuse me is anyone in here i'll fold up my piece of music put it back in the film canister put it in my pocket can i are any of the windows near near enough the door that i can peek through do churches have people's i don't think churches have people's they do have windows i wouldn't

know that's why i'm yeah i don't jesus doesn't look at you that way um a wits plus awareness let's see if you can find a window cool that also functions as a people three successes mal um you look out the shaded dusted half broken half covered window that is closest to the double doors and you see that through the wrapping at the wooden surface of those massive two doors is a male individual probably in his early 30s that as the small amount of light cascaded from the outside street park a street level parking light cascades over you recognize you know him as adam soyer this is a man that you worked with outside of chicago at a

dvd rental spot that also referenced as like a electronic thrift store your original job he was a coworker of yours in fact he was assistant manager just before you went away um he was a nice enough guy kind of a prick when it came to being type a very manager managerial type and took things a lot more seriously than anyone else did um he is scrawnier in form um he looks a lot more emaciated than you remember him to be um but this is absolutely adam who you shared how many shifts with who knows excuse me i thought i heard someone's footsteps in here is someone in here i'm looking for someone i'm gonna activate shadow cloak and still in the shadows just turn the door knob enough that the latch undoes and it swings open on

its own he looks you know flabbergasted are you intending to scare him in any way or are you trying to eat him in i'm trying to treat him to come in but not be seen okay yeah he looks shocked for a moment and he stares in and he tries to make a site line for whoever opened the door but he considers it to be an invitation and further opens it and steps in he's dressed like he's coming to vegas like a tourist outfit he's in this two-piece suit that is all black and his dress shirt is black as well um probably bought it from like burlington coat factory it's not a very expensive suit and he's got these cheap little loafers on um and he looks confused but he steps in and gets a little shocked as the door shuts behind him excuse me someone's here right you open the door for me

still from the shadows what do you want adam soyer it is you isn't it is it you listen i was sent here i was sent here looking for you you there's some people are really interested in seeing you again would you come out would you talk to me who sent you still in the shadows julian and the little girl he he hangs around he said you might be here you just he thinks you might be alive and well i'm talking to you so maybe so maybe you should just you should you should come out and we could go back

just back towards chicago and we could stop in and who else knows you're here just julian he's the only one he paid me to come out here he said it was really important he just misses you he says he doesn't even care about what's happened he just wants to see you again he gets it i think i don't know what he gets but he gets it he really wanted to see you you i i hate you i am gonna is there okay i know this is something i should know by now um is there a way to like sense kindred like we could sense other you yes there are but there are disciplines

in order to do it so you could have like sense the beast or i know erin has something that can do it with aspects i don't know if you have anything that doesn't know although this i think it's the third time you've asked if you can so maybe consider we should yeah yeah it's worth it yeah um shit you could also just take a plain perception check and see if you can discern anything yeah i'll do that yeah give me a wits plus insight plus insight three successes three successes it's hard to tell

really impossible to tell whether someone is living or dead uh knowing what you know i mean blush of a life is still a thing but he looks pretty alive to you it looks pretty harmless i will oh that's a bad idea i'm gonna say moderately hidden in the shadows um but let them peel back just enough to show my face in a less than inviting light okay are you trying to intimidate with this vision yes okay give me an intimidation plus manipulation okay three successes again okay

he looks well and truly afraid and he takes just a step in but then stands there suffering tremors almost shaking in his step he speaks listen he just misses you that's all this is i could take you to him they're staying in a hotel here in the city we could go see them tonight that catches bow off guard they had a whole plan of what they were gonna say to scare this person off and it is instantly sucked away where it's the aria it's the casino on the strip i could take you to them no

no what room i i have the key card do you want it yeah they reach into their hand and their hands into their pocket and take out this wallet this trifold they make sure to do it extremely slowly because they're still a little weary of you um and in the panic of it all they start dropping things out of their wallets and cash falls forward and then they grab this key card and they toss it out in front of you and it's indeed for the aria casino

do i believe them give me an insight plus wits i so don't trust fucking anything two successes you believe that's a room for the aria casino and they've been pretty forthright with all their information it tracks what someone trying to get you home they haven't made any moves on you how long are they here i think their plan is just to be here for the weekend but i let them know that i thought i'd found a lead on you and uh i sent ahead so they came in they flew in this morning how did you know

i found you here sleeping what i found you here sleeping when how a week back maybe you were just sleeping here here in the pastor's room the priest's room i don't know what they call them when they're catholic who told you to look here why would you look here of all places i had it i had a hunch like i can't tell you but there were some i think you can't tell me look the point is i found you tell me how if you want to see them your time is running out

why i don't know how long they're gonna stay and with you talking to me like that i don't know you don't know what listen are you gonna take it or what i'll take the key card what why did they come to you you were some assistant manager at a shitty little rental store why the fuck did they go to you what do you mean we were close we were work close listen just because i asked you out that one time doesn't just mean that this is what even is that supposed to mean okay i was literally 18 you were 29 he was looking for help

and i offered why give me an insight plus manipulation what is going on with this normie i know i'm very bothered by him assess my guff i'm gonna spend a willpower to roll four successes you're right mal you were 18 and he was 29 why isn't his age adding up then he should be older than he is now

uh on an experiment i'm gonna send out one of my little tendrils of shadow cast and use touch of oblivion to try and wreck his leg okay uh go ahead make an attack so brawl oblivion yeah okay i think i passed my rose check also okay three successes okay you uh completely destroy his shin as the tender moves out and connects it directly to the right and you watch it pull the rise and fall over he screams out looks at you and calls you fucking bitch all you had to do was go to the fucking room um and in that moment um he steps immediately

into one of the shadows in the room and disappears completely fucker shadow melding i need you to make an athletics plus uh dexterity this is that person that doesn't like you isn't it probably my fucking brother oh fuck one success okay you take uh three superficial damage as you can feel these claws rend into your shoulder as he reappears behind you and digs in so deep that the the fingers start to press a few inches into your chest your action um i am going to i'm going he is he still in shadow or do i know where he is now he's back he's come out of the

shadow in order to attack you um then i am going to oh fuck me uh i'm gonna do the i'm gonna do touch of oblivion again okay and try and take out his other leg got it four successes got it uh you absolutely hamper him again and both legs fall to uh uh his knees and he looks absolutely debilitated by this exchange but it does not stop him he is deathly hurt but he reaches into the belt loop underneath his suit jacket and pulls free a knife yeah fucker and his very large knife like a bowie knife he goes to stab you in the chest hoping to send you into torque go ahead and give me in dexterity plus athletics to avoid this okay

what is it to rouse the blood again oh to blood surge it's just a rouse check okay and then you can add uh dies equal to your potency which would be an extra die uh i succeed on my rouse trek so not hungry and you get that extra die sick okay i'm using another willpower i have two left okay okay one two three four successes okay um you definitely jump out of the way and as he's swiping at you he exclaims it's too late now he's already here it's just a matter of time go to him he needs you and he uh cascades out of the way kind of rolls through after the knife uh does not connect it's your turn in the final rail uh do i have do i still have my knife

from you've got three-foot knife uh i'm going tit for tat literally um i'm sorry that was so stupid um i'm gonna i'm gonna try and send him into torpor okay all right you're going straight to say a cool thing but then i realized i said something dumb first so go ahead and make a strength plus melee and i want you to remove one dice because you're making a cold shot against the heart right okay oh just my hunger dice that's fun god bless two successes two successes is enough after this huge fall he's had the knife connects in touches to his heart and immediately he turns to dust dying immediately before your eyes he cascades melts withers falls sucks back into itself and then he's dust on the floor

motherfucker um okay knowing that my place is basically uh compromise now now that's a dumb idea i'm not gonna do that um i'm gonna run back upstairs get the book out of the wall um get everything that has anything to do with me and then weirdly take the saint kathryn tapestry okay and i'm going to club canan because that's the only safe place i can think of because i can't contact anyone else and everyone else will show up there eventually maybe beautiful we've got a few more minutes here before we have to close out for the day i just want to get to the couple see what our couple is up to i believe you two were heading underground correct uh correct um

um i i realized that uh i was uh i got the motorcycle with enok who is a little messed up and rufus so i would just like to imagine all three of us somehow like i would have rufus here enox one arm like just trying to get to there's a side car is there no side car you think niles would drive a side car come on um okay on story we're just getting to a sideway so i can like park the bike like someplace to keep it safe but a place where we can go underground like one of those manholes in um in our area or near um on your way enok i'd like you to make uh a wits plus whatever you have in ospex no oh not not a lot sure that's like a pool of 20 for you wits plus ospex let's see seven days beautiful

how hungry are you quite oh shit for success is nothing special uh enok um as is so often the case for you the cobweb speaks incredibly heavy in your mind the connection port that sends you off through ethernet to every other malcavian in the world through that shared psychosis begins to link up in your mind and bring a frightening connection as you are visited first in your nose with the smell of baked goods uh on this motorcycle you smell beautifully beautifully made baked goods uh the smell of fresh maple donuts of those old caked ones of uh donut balls that have freshly been made and scooped into uh brown paper bags and dusted with powdered sugar you smell uh turnovers apple turnovers and and uh freshly baked cookies and eclairs and all of

this fried dough you can smell the fryers itself um and you're visited by these these visions of this very happy uh dancing donut what the chefs had on top of his head um and those smells begin to lift again so much so that as your sniffing rufus is staring back at you as if he's missing something that you're seeing um and intermixed past all of that is this smell of of blood yum fresh but not too fresh and you feel like you're picking up a scent are you are you trying to tell me that i want to go to the police station right now i'm not but there is a track in your nose currently you do not have to follow it of course you continue underground here's what i'm gonna do okay i'm gonna start barking like a dog beautiful

of course i would expect nothing less and on all fours allison can easily stop me if she wishes to but on all fours i'm gonna start running in the direction of this so-called scents i see allison lassie has picked up a scent and taken to the street uh and rufus is in tow writing about on four legs as much as enoch is and they seem to be moving down the street oh they're both on four legs going down the street does rufus have three or four i can't remember rufus has decided to walk on two i don't remember i don't remember rufus being a three-legged dog but i yeah i don't i think that was just spoons and i'm forgetting um okay i'm gonna have to do i guess a mario kart drift and then try to like kind of catch up yeah okay i'm just gonna catch try to

catch up i'm sure i can catch up pretty quick but he's also fast so yeah uh you follow and enox knows not rufus's brings you to uh an old bakery on the corner of this spot not far from naked city probably like two blocks down from where you are and into the worst part of town definitely but the exterior is that of a normal donut shop there is this big cartoon just like from your vision enox this cartoon donut with chef's hat who's waving and dancing and above that it reads mr doh man donuts um and uh it seems that this place is uh well founded it's closed for the night it looks pretty much nearly condemned the windows are boarded over okay you can see through some of the glass itself there's a set of dumpsters out towards the back in an alleyway

that runs up to an apartment building how um in this sort of i'm sorry go ahead no you're fine oh i was just gonna say how big of an opening in the glass you said it's boarded up but it sounds like i could see in a little bit yeah you could see in it's probably like um like a right angle of about two feet okay if i can see in i can probably jump in beautiful so i'm gonna try to just go right through the glass yeah there is a cascading shower of broken glasses alice and you watch your dog beloved four-footed uh leap like a gray hound show dog through the two feet space it does not completely fit fit him the way you wanted to the first time and you can see his shoulder sort of dislocate for a second and snap back into place oh my stump but he does make it through onto the

other side are you pursuing as well yeah it's gonna be kind of like more like cavalier because i could see it's kind of off and i'm like all right rufus does stop halfway he does have a nice ass though and then just kind of follow him i'm shaking as i wriggle through the glass yeah as you're scoping out your beloved's ass rufus looks back to you like are we doing this too before i'm gonna do the same thing i'm gonna be talking i'm like your guess is good as mine i'm willing to see where this goes rufus trots up to the window and leaps in as well and i assume you follow as well alice yes but i'm graceful i'm not a dog so i'm just gonna go ahead and just slide my way in yes beautiful the windows have fogged and shaded over some of the brick

facing outside has started to crumble as if some sort of scuffle or drunken crash have taken off a corner of the foundation the doors locked over and for the most part the dereliction does not look like it had any permanent effects on the small brick property the weeds and overgrowth still find themselves fitting in the cracks of the mortar and the sign hanging overhead sticking out horizontally from its post has been taken over by some graffiti over the lettering but the property still stands do you have a question come on boy what you got what you got that's rufus thinking you're talking to him i actually need to take him to a vet no inside gives complete meaning to this new smell it wasn't the cloyingly sweet smell of rotten baked goods instead it was

the disturbed cycle of life coming to an end on its rotation enok you immediately are flooded with visions again of being someone else of being in the first person of a taller bigger man with a trench coat and open a front his bare chest exposed in all of these pockmarked holes extending across your body and you are lugging something strong something powerful something broken in through the cascaded door that a dumpster has been pushed aside to do and dropping it into the center of this room you've had this vision before the last time was when you were chasing through after allison that night you saw something else you lived something else and for whatever reason the cobweb has brought you back to it because right here the first thing you

notice enok are the ropes powerful knots put together and careful careful connections that position themselves off of the support joists on the building floor tied to the back of the bakery bar the windowsill a post in the corner all crisscrossing like cobwebs across all of these points in this field of view and there in the center of all of those ropes like some angel descending is an overweight individual of male indication there are at least six visible large sailing hooks pressed into the flesh hard enough to form loops to latch the knots to they have pulled the flesh far enough that it pulls taut at an angle across the police there is one particular hook pressed into his jaw pulling him forward by the sheer force of the

taut rope his coat has been cut and sheared and draped over his flayed and pierced arms which are pulled into a t position in which the leather hanging like this replicates almost a bird in flight the blood has dried underneath in what used to be a large puddle over the tiling and written in what you can only assume is blood at the base of the scene is the number 13 do i'm gonna take a photo of this just fyi i'm just taking out the phone i'm just gonna be like does this look anything at all like the nosferatu nonsense that we saw going on go ahead and give back nosferatu's nonsense is in the people who are melting from the inside yes go ahead and make an insight plus wits can i roll for that too yes you may

okay inside plato that's just three for me three successes you believe that this does i'll wait for allison actually maybe allison gets us more information three successes okay you both believe that this does not have anything to do with the previous nosferatu murders simply because the nosferatu murders had two clear indications the nosferatu murders targeted nosferatu directly this man looks to be either of human or other kindred descent and it left nothing but a puddle of remains just acid in the other scenes this one seems to be completely on display and has an added clue at the bottom that 13 draped over the nosferatu murders did not seek to give you information they seek to take

away can i examine yeah the intricacies of how this body is like that and the 13 this it's it's very complex and it's like it's interesting absolutely go ahead and roll uh your surgery roll plus how wits while allison is doing that yeah i would also like now okay query does a corpse kind of as an inanimate object i'd say so okay then i would like to do a spirit's touch on it by touching an inanimate object or the ground at a location the vampire can sense the emotional residue left by those who have handled that object or visited the location in the past gaining insight into that person

but also what was done and under what circumstances got it got it okay let's go with allison's first okay so i did have two successes okay but i had a bestial failure got it okay two successes bestial failure you see that this is a piece of art allison it's not unlike your sculptures this was made not to kill not to consume not to be some sloppy murder this was set out as an art piece this was set out as a message there is something to be learned from the artist here and there's something to be admired in their work they're clearly a visionary they're trying to say things they're calling attention to the angels 13 can be considered uh both an unlucky and extremely lucky number both a holy and unholy number there are many things here that you could dissect

you're working with someone who knows what they're doing allison oh oh that's uh she's gonna get very tingly and just like whole um i'm gonna get closer to the 13 and around everything is there anything that's definitely sticks out like that signature like an artist would put down besides go ahead and make me a wits plus awareness and then we'll get to enox uh spirit touch okay uh oh god damn it three successes and another bestial failure three successes bestial failure okay you find that uh upon looking into this uh and investigating the corpse trying to find

something worth finding you find two things on his ankle carved in with what must be some sort of carving knife who knows enough to remove flesh is the word gen gen four one gen okay um i'm so sorry it's two not one gen four two i read my notes wrong gen four two okay uh in addition that's just on one ankle the right ankle in addition you find this individual's cell phone it is unlocked it looks like it's probably on its last few percentage of battery and it is opened uh to the uber app where upon looking at the uh the uber app itself

it's clear that this man was the driver okay and that for whatever reason the ride he was on has never been cancelled still look oh i'm looking at that sucker uh it looks to be uh it's it's hard to tell who this individual was for the picture itself is a poorly done portrait of the middle aged man um but the name reads john doe john doe nah that's not okay um that phone is about to die i'm gonna is is it a way i can put it on airplane mode yeah because i don't want it to be tracked but i think there's gonna be some more interesting things on there you put it on airplane and the last thing that this man ever did uh is ended that ride dies on the vine but at least you'll save the battery a little longer and i'm assuming you pocket that phone yes i do okay

erin what did we get for that uh so i passed my razz check right and i roll five successes okay kaleb just took a deep breath oh no that is a lot of successes you're about to get some plot points right now was eight dice you know you um feel so cold immediately as if every inch of your body has been deep freeze um you feel tired more tired than you have ever been in your entire life and even more so there is this new feeling gnawing at the back of your skull like bugs trying to escape their prison there is a buzzing in the back of you in fact all of you suddenly feels alive as though

there are more things than just yourself weaving their way through your organs through your being through everything that you are uh you feel disfigured you feel ugly you feel lost your body is not your own but even more so the body that you've gained is even worse it hurts you knock to live like this to feel as disgusting as this feel you feel wrong in your own skin like everything is an inch off of where it's supposed to be but even more so there's someone to your right as you begin your work as the ropes are strung as the ropes are moved as the body is brought up as his incessant chattering as his talking over and over and over again you local you got to be safe out here in vegas you got to watch yourself out here in vegas not safe

to drive alone as soon comes to an end as you finally stop him from talking you rig him up on those ropes as the other watches you do your work you move to him you walk to him you speak to him you hope that what you've done with the driver what you've done to the driver's body has been enough to prove yourself worthy of the next steps you only wish to go to the mansion you only wish to see this through you only wish to have his approval you turn and for a split second inoc you are watching someone you've never seen before tall dressed in this immaculate cobalt blue overcoat that extends out almost like a robed flooring that drapes across the dusted concrete of this bakery on the floor beautiful beautiful piece to suit underneath

that has been well curated well taken care of his face is calculated cold but there is a unmistakable charm that comes through what he is silvered with just the slightest amount of pepper to it hair and a growing five o'clock shadow that threatens at a beard at any moment he reminds you almost of uh ben mendelson the actor um he is deliberately cold um and there is a conversation this muffled sort of speak between the two of you and you feel this wave of approval from him as you realize that you have been given the right to continue you no longer have to think you no longer have to listen to this insufferable fool you have managed to string to the ceiling instead you can move forward and in that instant you watch as that man sucks into the

shadow and disappears completely and you come back to enan and i believe that is where we are going to leave our session for today jesus we'll have the rest to decide for our finale there's only one mansion in our recent history so true oh i don't know smells like some uh uh some uh fuck kakata kakata shit yeah yeah yeah that was a good shit what's above the rest of the apartment only one left now you guys got to decide what's next one episode left how could we decide what's next to wrap all of this up impossible we make the last episode the kickoff of season two probably so what if we just ever stopped huh rain would melt i think everyone would log off they're like no we're done yeah

this much chaos all the time and the purr just a little i'm just getting used to chaos by the way i counted four bestial failures this uh please have some food eat eat a man well i can eat somebody who's dangling right now so it's true yeah not like fresh though did anybody spot who the poor murder victim is is it is it my boy is it my my who is it it's your it's not your driver you want to shut up yep and stop talking 13 that's what happens when you talk just saying all right it just gets stitches yeah oh my gosh there we go guys here we go thanks for hanging with us friends thank you everyone who's got by who's stuck with us we're

glad to have you if this was your first time with us we hope you get a chance to come back and watch the rest of uh btm uh biggest by night before the last one comes out so last one will be the end of arc one but not the end of the show by any means i already got arc two written so it's just a matter of when we're pushing that out there we're gonna take a little break to get some real brand new content out there and then this will be back before we even know it thanks for everyone that got up earlier stayed up late to watch us tonight thanks for real means the world oh and the chat the comments in the chats were hilarious i still refuse to give you guys harpoons i'm not doing it we're just afraid of what we what we're capable of when we have our poons yeah we secure

our poons we secure the city first of all the fact that you won't give us harpoons but you gave me malt of cocktails it says a lot there's something else in that mansion i'd love for you to go flying um anyway we'll deal with this the next time we see each other on the last episode of vigas by night thank you guys for sticking around have a good night guys thank you everybody