Part 13: XIII - An Explosive Beginning
I'll have some questions for you when I get back. Let's go.With that, we're transported to the warehouse area.
You can actually get more experience if you do the entire quest without being detected.
But that's not easy for a character that hasn't put any dots into stealth-related skills. With a vampire that can use obfuscate, this quest is a breeze.
Our main enemy is this generic looking thug. He and his 40 twin brothers populate this area.
Remember that they're working for the Sabbat.
So don't feel that bad that we have to...
...kill them.
Eventually we come to this homeless guy. Nothing special about him.
Just past him, we can overhear a conversation between two thugs.
quote:
Yo, what the fuck is going on here tonight? Marcus is on everyone's face and shit!
Didn't you hear? A new shipment came in - some pretty serious hardware.
Yeah, I heard. But what the fuck, we get that kind of shit in here all the time. What's so different about tonight?
I don't know. Marcus's as tense as a motherfucker. Maybe he heard something.
Like what?
Like I don't know, but keep you fucking eyes open! And someone better tell those clowns on the freight house to quit playing cards before Marcus comes out and starts peeling fucking caps, you know what I'm saying?
Yeah, yeah I hear ya.
Marcus must be the boss around here. We take out those two and move on.
There's a lock on one of these train cars, and inside of it there's some .38 ammunition.
Out the other door, we can eavesdrop on those thugs playing cards.
quote:
You're gonna bet or what?
Shit, relax holmes, I'm in.
Yo, Marcus will be getting all crazy on people now, right?
What the fuck! Something going down tonight, he knows something we don't.
I know you best keep your voice down, holmes, Marcus don't play that shit.
What shit? I'm just asking a question.
That's the shit he don't play.
Look - both of you shut up and play your fucking cards? Where the hell's Junior?
He's inside watching the steps. Guess Marcus is kind of scared of him, you know?
Shit, I guess Junior's smarter than he looks.
After taking them out, we can get into the warehouse from down here, but there's a more interesting way on the other side.
Which requires a little sneaking, if you don't want to be caught.
There's a ladder upwards, guarded by a thug that can be drained dry easily. We'll take the ladder up.
We're above all the thugs on the ground, here, but we still have to be quiet to stay undetected.
There's some steelwork we can walk on, which eventually takes us to a walkway we can drop down on to.
It's easy to drop down and be caught immediately, if you don't do it in the right spot. Drop down on the lamp, then down to the floor on the left.
Now on the walkway, there are two doors that lead to our objective. The first is on the left -- the door you can see. The other door is on the right, which requires that you go past the window. The problem with that path is that there are two thugs looking straight out the windows, and they'll doubtlessly see you unless you've got dots in stealth. Even if you get past them, the astrolite can only be planted in the room to the left.
The door is locked, but the skillcheck isn't anything special. There are some conversations to listen to here, but they're not very interesting. Let's get down to business. This is the room that we need to plant the astrolite in. The problem, then, is that we have a 3 minute time limit to get out. With our poor stealth skills, that means we'll have to fight our way out. That being the case, it's a better idea to take out everyone in the warehouse before planting the explosives.
Exiting to the left...
The guy in the suit must be Marcus.
Even though he has a shotgun, he's not too much trouble. Neither are the two thugs he has with him.
There are two thugs to take out in the room to the right of where we entered. Now we'll take out everyone on the ground floor.
I won't bore you with the details... the short story is that we take everyone out. Fortitude works wonders.
It's always a good idea to end a fight by draining the last guy standing. Now we'll plant that explosive.
Which can only be done near the desk. This is more or less the center of the place.
3 minutes to get out of here. Shouldn't be too bad.
Just gotta--
Sabbat!
He deals aggravated damage with his claws. One Sabbat, one vampire, is more of a challenge than that whole group of humans we took out.
But he's not too difficult. Ironically, the door he bashed down is now the only way out.
Eventually, we're lead to another door.
Inside, there are a couple of traincars and railway tracks.
Ambushed!
This time the encounter is much easier. Now we'll head through the door...
...and eventually find our way back to the beginning. This should be a safe distance.
Oh, we had a minute left, but the astrolite exploded anyway.
PS, this probably isn't the right clothing to wear when you're blowing up a warehouse.
This guy's eyes... there's something strange about him. If he's Sabbat, we might be in trouble. We could lie, but what good would that do? A vampire walking away from the scene of the crime, just in the nick of time -- it's obvious that it's us.
Yeah, that was me.
Hopefully no Sabbat saw you escape - they can be somewhat antagonistic.So he's not Sabbat. Who is he, then? And why is he here?
Who are you, and why have you been following me?
Places. Plural. Remember this:
Part 4 posted:
That was Beckett, it seems.
Tell me, have you by chance seen or felt anything strange since your Embrace?We've seen many strange things, though whether they're strange to Beckett is another matter.
I saw a ghost at a local hotel. A ghost? Hmph. Quite ordinary. I generally pay wraiths no mind. All but a few are willing to give up their secrets.The Malkavian version of that line is "I SEE DEAD PEOPLE."
I met some Kindred on the beach that didn't seem like Kindred.
Beckett seems to be a scholar of sorts.
The Santa Monica baron has a split personality. She's undoubtedly Malkavian. Or should I say, they are undoubtedly Malkavian.Hmmm, I suppose nothing we've seen qualifies as strange.
Other than that, I really haven't seen anything extraordinary.
Beckett knows we're recently embraced. What else could he know? What could he be hiding?
[Listen] Pleasure meeting your acquaintance, but there are rumblings for me to discredit. We shall, I'm certain, meet again. Or never again. Goodnight, young one... and be careful, you're very likely being hunted by the Sabbat.We've eliminated the two Sabbat we've run across, and that explosion should have taken care of any others in the area. There's always a chance, however.
Night... Beckett.
Beckett runs off...
...and we're taken back to the Santa Monica streets, to this beautiful sight in front of us. He should be pleased.
Tung is a Nosferatu, he's bound to have some information on who this 'Beckett' character is.
Thanks. Do you know someone named Beckett?
Beckett? I know of him. Why? I spoke with him. No kidding? Huh. Must be something major happening if HE's in town.
Sound like an interesting person to have a conversation with. Too bad he ran off so fast.
Now, the following dialogue with Bertram is completely optional, but nevertheless it's still interesting to hear what he has to say.
Hmmm. Bertram... I have some serious questions for you. Whaddaya need?Many things, though information about that asian vampire comes to mind, that ordeal with Knox.
I met your ghoul Knox. I know ya did. Sharp kid; can track like a bloodhound. I watched him work for a while before I approached him. I had no idea how... eager he would be to help. You knew I did? I knew you would. I had him watching you-know-who for me; it was inevitable you'd pass through her joint. I told him to keep an eye out for ya, gave him the lines to feed ya, the whole bit.Feed him lines? We were played?
But he needed my help. I killed an Asian vampire who was stalking him. No, you helped me remove a spy without revealing myself or getting my hands dirty. Heh, pretty good actor, that Knox, huh? Haha. That's not very nice.
No doubt.
I wanted to ask about someone else. What do you think of Prince LaCroix? What am I gonna say? He's the boss now.Some would call that a pragmatic answer. I call it a defeatest one.
Yeah? What about that guy who decapitated my sire? He's LaCroix's iron fist. No one "knows" the sheriff, really, except LaCroix. No one even knows the guy's name. There's lots of rumors about him though. I heard LaCroix picked him up in Africa over a hundred years ago. Obviously, they work well together.It was only through the actions of Nines Rodriguez that we we're saved that night. Who is Nines?
What about Nines Rodriguez? From what I hear he's a likable sort, and that's a problem. Nines Rodriguez is the kinda guy you want on your side and more Kindred go anarch every day cuzza him. What can you tell me about the anarchs? The anarchs... yeah, I respect what they do, strenuous liberty and all that jazz, but they're kidding themselves. Wherever there's an ounce of power to be had, there'll be people dickin' each other over. You think the Camarilla invented that?We've already seen that the anarchs do not preach strenuous liberty. What an actual anarchist response would be to Tung's latter statement is that it ignores the role that institutions and values within a society play in determining individual behavior.
Mikhail Bakunin posted:
Do you want to prevent men from ever oppressing other men? Arrange matters such that they never have the opportunity. Do you want them to respect the liberty, rights and human character of their fellow men? Arrange matters such that they are compelled to respect them--compelled not by the will or oppression of other men, nor by the repression of the State and legislation, which are necessarily represented and implemented by men and would make them slaves in their turn, but by the actual organization of the social environment, so constituted that while leaving each man to enjoy the utmost possible liberty it gives no one the power to set himself above others or to dominate them, except through the natural influence of his own intellectual or moral qualities, which must never be allowed to either convert itself into a right or to be backed by any kind of political institution. [Michael Bakunin: Selected Writings, ed. Arthur Lehning, pp. 152-153]
As a side note, I thought of titling the forthcoming anarch-specific update "Real Anarchism or Kindred Anarchism: An Unbridgeable Chasm", but that's just a little too silly.
Moving on, what does Tung have to say about the other sects?
What do you think about the Camarilla? The Camarilla works. When you let vampires run wild, you wind up with Caitiff frenzying in the streets, thin-bloods blowing the Masquerade, and hunters sniffing around. Law and order is the Kindred's friend.No anarchist would disagree with what Tung is essentially saying here: that if you let people "run wild" (meaning there are utterly no rules), you'll wind up disorganization, chaos, and likely some sort of facism to take the void. Of course we need rules, if by the word one means guidelines for behavior. The question to be asked, however, is who makes the rules? Who are the rules benefitting? At whose cost? What are the punishment for breaking the rules? These type of questions -- of supreme importance for anyone to ask themselves -- fly over Tung's head.
Tung mentioned Caitiff, and we haven't really heard about them.
What's a Caitiff? Caitiff are just riff-raff vampires who don't know anything about vampire society, don't know their clan; mutt vampires: what I suspect you were perilously close to becoming if LaCroix hadn't intervened.We know so little about our Sire that what Tung is saying is a leap of faith, at least it is for us. We can't ask him about our Sire.
When talking about the Camarilla, Tung mentioned thin-bloods. Let's hear what he has to say about them.
What do you mean "thin-bloods"? Theory goes that the farther down the bloodline you are from Caine, the weaker the blood is. So if you're, say, fifth generation, the blood is strong. If you're fifteenth generation you barely qualify as a vampire; a thin-blood. Sounds like the bottom of the barrel. Hmm... it is a sad state. They're weak, their powers watered down, most of them are Caitiff, and there seems to be more and more of them. Many Kindred think it's a sign of Gehenna. Gehenna?We know what Gehenna is, but this was the only dialogue option.
Gehenna: The day we all die, when our sleeping forefathers rise and bring about the end of the world. Many believe we are living in the Final Nights.Tung also mentioned "hunters" when he spoke about the Camarilla.
You mentioned hunters before. Who are they? Hunters: humans who hunt vampires. Most are half-cocked yokels who also say they've been abducted by UFOs. The real hunters are trained by secret societies, holy orders of the church that have existed since the Middle Ages. Fear them.Also fear those horrible Hunter: The Reckoning video games. One other sect to ask Tung about, the one whose warehouse we sent sky high tonight.
I want to know about the Sabbat. Y'ask me, the Sabbat makes no sense. They couldn't care less about the Masquerade, and they seem to care even less about themselves. It's like, "Hey! Let's all spread hell on earth so we can feel big and bad - oops! I'm dead! Now, how did that happen?"I know so little about the Sabbat, I'm not sure if this depiction is accurate. It may be a caricature, or it may be dead-on. If you've played Redemption, you know that the reasonable Wilhem (and Ecaterina) both joined the Sabbat in the modern times. That's what makes me doubt what Tung is saying. Vampire: The Masquerade veterans, feel free to chime in.
We can also ask Tung about each Camarilla clan.
I wanted to ask you about a clan. Hmmm. Clans are just bloodlines, you know, a common root shared and passed on from sire to childe. Tell me about the Brujah. They're a bunch of malcontents. They get pumped up by rousing the rabble they keep around them, like that's hard. Nothing breeds faster than contempt, and that's what the Brujah are all about. Jealousy and contempt.If you're playing as a Brujah:
quote:
MC: Will your head be jealous when I put my foot up your contemptible ass?
Tung: See what I mean? You're fresh from your Embrace, no real clan ties, and yet you feel compelled to roar and beat your chest cuz I spoke my mind. Real free-thinking way to be there, Brujah bitch. Yeah, fight the power, right? Pfft.
Tell me about the Gangrel. They fancy themselves loners and drifters, running around the countryside and barking at the moon. Hmph. It's all just an act. Gangrel can walk upright, they just choose not to.If you're playing as a Gangrel:
quote:
MC: Did you get to choose how you look? It's no different.
Tung: Aww, did I hurt your feelings, fleabag? Well, just try not to let the doggy door pinch your tail on the way out.
Tell me about the Malkavians. Malkavians are, uh... interesting. There's something to them. Learning to sort the wisdom from the bullshit can be some work and, uh, not all of them are worth listening to, but, uh, they're all good fun if you ask me.Not sure what the Malkavian response is, here.
Tell me about the Nosferatu. The Nosferatu are damn good at what we do; no one even argues that. If you need to know, if you want it found, you come to us. We're indispensable; not a bad place to be in the afterlife. Lucky you."Lucky me" if you're a Nos.
The Nosferatu stick together, pool resources. We have more going on than anyone could guess at. Our web blankets the night. Are the Nosferatu part of the Camarilla? I'm loyal to the clan, loyal to my primogen, and therefore loyal to the Camarilla. Do you like them? The Nosferatu are the eyes and ears of the Camarilla, so they take care of us. They value our services... or, uh, don't want to be on our bad side. Either way, no one bothers us.That didn't really answer the question, but let's move on.
Tell me about the Torreador. Hmph. I don't rub elbows with the pretty bloodsuckers much, but I've seen them work people like puppeteers and that's admirable. Now if only they'd get off their slimy asses and put their talent to some use besides feeding their egos.If you're a Torreador:
quote:
MC: Astute observations made from the safety of a rat hole.
Tung: Save it Cleopatra [Don Juan, if male], your silver tongue might get tarnished licking this hide.
Tell me about the Tremere. 
Mages. I don't have any reason to trust 'em. They're creepy and I think they like it that way. But to be honest, I don't hear much about the Tremere. There's a few in LA but all in all there's not that many of them.If Tremere:
quote:
MC: There's one right here for you not to trust.
Tung: Well, from what I hear you're part of a dying breed.
Tell me about the Ventrue. They get a bad rap if you ask me. Everyone likes to take shots at the man in charge, but when it comes to getting the job done, the Ventrue know how to step up. They can take the heat. Are you just saying that because I'm Ventrue? Yeah right. I'm talking about the powerful Ventrue - you're just a pup.We can ask Tung about the murders that have been happening around Santa Monica. Remember, we saw that guy strung up on the pier.
Have you heard anything about the serial killer? Those murders are definitely the work of Kindred. Probably some Caitiff getting revenge on everyone who made fun of him in High School. Once the sheriff tracks this guy down they're gonna make one hell of an example of him.Lastly, we can ask Tung about the matter that brought us to him.
What was the deal with you and Therese Voerman? That was just silly vampire politicking, cupcake, no more. You get used to that kind of thing. Sounded pretty vicious to me. Of course it did. As if vampires and women both weren't insecure enough, get them together in one Malkavian body and look what happens.Casual sexism. Well, nobody's perfect.
Did you know she and Jeanette are the same person? Uh - I had my suspicions. What an interesting specimen... but a pain in my dead ass for sure. I think you have a thing for drama queens. Yeah, no kidding. Now that the Camarilla has moved into LA, Therese wants the title of Prince of Santa Monica. I guess she saw me as a threat. Funny thing is, I could care less. What man is not attracted by fame and power?Power can be spoken of in two contexts: either in an abstract, individualized sense, or in a social sense. The latter sense, being social, should not be viewed as simply power over others. We can easily imagine a situation where one wields social power, i.e. the means to influence decisions, while at the same time never having 'social power', if by 'social power' one means power held by a minority, while the majority has their decisions being made for them, the majority thus held to either ratification, or lacking a decision-making role at all. In this sense, anarchists are just as attracted to power as anyone else, just not 'power' in the sense of dominating others. In fact if you go read the works of actual anarchists, you'll find that power over others, i.e. social power that permits exploitation and domination, is their main source of criticism. It's one of the things that separates them from orthodox marxists, and what has and continues to be the source of most disagreements between the two sides.
I wouldn't want to be the Prince of Terre Haute. I leave that headache to the Ventrue. Besides, there's only like four vampires in all of Santa Monica. Hmph. Some kingdom.That's really all we can get out of Tung. It's time to go.
I'm outta here. You better get back downtown. Prince LaCroix's going to want to hear all about this victory.Yeah, but let's stop by our apartment one last time.
First, there's an update on a story we previously heard.
An update on the Elizabeth Dane: The ghost ship was towed into county waters off the port of LA, where police are searching for evidence of the crew and whether the ship was being used in drug- or terrorist-related smuggling. Coast guard search parties are still patrolling the area where the Dane was first spotted, though the fate of the crew is still unknown.Technomancer posted:
I just wanted to add a little bit of trivia. For those who don't know, the "Elizabeth Dane" is the name of the ghost ship in John Carpenter's The Fog.
And something else...
A massive explosion rocked Santa Monica tonight, sending several fireballs into the sky and prompting a lockdown of the warehouse district where the explosions took place. Early reports suggest that the warehouse destroyed in the explosion was being used in a weapon smuggling operation, and that the source of the detonation possibly came from a military grade explosive being stored at the site. Authorities say it is still too early to speculate on whether there is some terrorist connection to these events, though they have not ruled out the possibility. Stay tuned to Channel 3 for further updates.We also have one new email:
Hmmm... Now it's time to go.
Just drive.
Downtown here we come...
Appendix A - The Sabbat
citybeatnik posted:
The Sabbat kinda sorta not really follow the Masquerade - one of their tactics is to let loose the idiots in to the city to raise hell so that the Camarilla has to cover it up, but when you get down to it the sect really doesn't want humanity to know about them any more than anyone else does. It's just that where the Tower would blackmail or intimidate someone in to being quiet/prevent a story from going out, the Sword'll just kill them. Almost all Elders are basically the same, clan be damned. And I believe I mentioned previously that the Anarch Revolt kinda sorta predates the "modern" use of the term anarchism, but that's the team trying to backfill in the fact that, well, they were club kids from Georgia and had equated anarchism with bikers and what not.
AnAnonymousIdiot posted:
While the Camarilla secularizes all vampire history and 'religion' - including Caine and the Antediluvians - the Sabbat wholeheartedly believes in them. They call themselves, 'The Sword of Caine' and believe themselves to be Caine's army against the Antediluvians. Arguably the Sabbat's goal is to destroy the Antediluvians, and by consequence avert Gehenna. The bestial mentality may just be a by-product of the Lasombra and Tzimisce pushing their beliefs on every other Cainite - the former's predatory and Darwinist nature more than the alien mindset of the latter. Taking such anomalies in mind, if one could isolate the Doctrines from the Lasombra and Tzimisce from a pack or branch, then you could in theory get reasonable Sabbat members.
However the Sabbat make a point to force everyone to embrace their Beast for the war against the Antediluvians. For a newbie - or shovelhead - it's almost impossible; if you get out of your Embrace without going mad then their doctrines, their many rituals like the Vinculum, and fellow pack-mates will ensure your Humanity is no more. If you're a Camarilla wanting to be Sabbat, you may likely get killed, but if you're lucky they'll try to force the same things onto you. With the two characters from Redemption, I think they got lucky by joining early before they got radicalized and maintained their beliefs before the Lasombra's an Tzimisce's. Then again, my experience with the earlier game is kinda small, so there may be things I'm not privy to.
citybeatnik posted:
Wilhelm and Ekaterina got away with it because they were powerful Elders (or ancillae in Wilhelm's case, although he'd be an Elder at the point you run in to him again) at the time and could tell the rabble to go fuck themselves. For all the talk of freedom the Sword goes on about, it's still built around "fuck you, got mine".AnAnonymousIdiot posted:
With the two characters from Redemption, I think they got lucky by joining early before they got radicalized and maintained their beliefs before the Lasombra's an Tzimisce's. Then again, my experience with the earlier game is kinda small, so there may be things I'm not privy to.
Anyone being able to challenge someone for the right to prove themselves sounds great, but your ability as a street level grunt or even paladin/ductus pales in comparison to what a bishop let alone archbishop can accomplish. While you might have a few True Believers out there, most of the Cardinals and what not are still just playing the same petty game the Justicars are, they're just more likely to use fire.
Ephemeron posted:
Tung's impression of the Sabbat as a self-destructive horde of mindless idiots is rather common among Camarilla vampires. That's because most of the encounters with the Sabbat that Kindred have (and manage to walk away from) are with frontline grunts and freshly Embraced shovelheads, neither of whom are known for subtlety or caution.
Of course, if that was all there was to the Sabbat, the sect would have perished long ago. The Sabbat has plenty of devious strategists, patient assassins, high-minded scholars and Machiavellian puppeteers among its ranks. Most Camarilla vampires who meet one of those do not get to unlive and tell the tale.
Appendix B - Hunters
MJ12 posted:
Let's talk about Tung and his Hunters, because those are cool too. There are a whole bunch of Hunter types in existence in the World of Darkness. Most of them have ties to other, higher powers, which is part of the reason they're so scary.
There are, of course, the type seen in Hunter: The Reckoning, the Imbued. Those are guys who have been given edges against the supernatural to fight the supernatural. If you believe wacky oWoD ~metaplot~, they are basically the broken-up bits of Solar Exalted ground up and given to a ton of people, which explains why they generally glow gold while doing this kind of bullshit and why they're so weak (the last time they tried giving people god-killing superweapons to make things right, the world kind of got fucked). They could be, and are, dangerous, but they die like any other mortal and it's very easy to get overconfident.
Then you have the church-like groups who hunt vampires, as he mentioned. I don't recall too much about them, but they can Religion so hard they hurt vampires, which is pretty awesome. Some of them are also Celestial Choristers (who are basically a pan-religious monotheist magical tradition), which means some of them have True Magic and will fuck your shit up real hard. It is very, very hard to tell between the two.
There are mundane witch-hunters too. However, here the church isn't very good at this, because it is basically impossible to figure out True Magic if you aren't already a mage. Even those who are have difficulties finding true magic users, which is why the Technocracy hasn't kicked everyone's ass. There are guys in the NSA who think an organization (read: The Technocracy) have infiltrated government and also hunt mages. They are basically completely taken over by Technocrats and Virtual Adepts. That's the problem with mundane witch-hunting (versus vampire hunting).
Werewolves have their own hunters. A corporation called DNA tries to capture them for study to provide new advancements in medical science, there's another one (CyberSolutions, I believe) that deploys cyborg shock troops, Pentex funds and hires werewolf hunters, and werewolves generally have it out for the Technocracy so the Technocrats often have it out for them.
Finally, there are two special groups who are largely Asian, because ~Asia~. SF0 and the Shih.
The Shih are kung-fu ass-kicker monks who exist to maintain a balance between humans and the supernatural. They have this old mandate from heaven and ridiculous kung-fu which lets them do things like jack their physical attributes sky-high, take multiple actions, punch people for aggravated damage, set supernatural things on holy fire, and other Fun Things. They're basically wandering face-kickers.
SF0 is Supernatural X-COM, backed by a shadowy multinational Council (read: The Technocracy). They have things like powered armor, cyborg augmentation, psychic powers, and a broad license to kill. They also have no idea what they're facing, are the pawns of the Technocracy which is more than willing to throw them at threats that outmatch them because their own agents are far more valuable ("sure, we could send a HITMark, but a HITMark is expensive and SF0 Rookies aren't"), and most of the world doesn't respect SF0 at all. Not like the rest of their anti-supernatural units are much better (again, the NSA anti-supernatural types are basically 100% run in a shadowy war between Traditionalists and Technocrats). But, you can get a fist that adds +5 to your strength to punching and has a vibroblade on it. So SF0 is awesome like that.