Part 26: XXVI - Patron of the Ancient Arts

Here we are, fresh out of the roof access to the Museum of Natural History. How Melissa knew about this entrance is left up to our imagination. Not to say that roof accesses are uncommon, just that Melissa knew exactly how to exploit this one.



Down the stairs and to the left, there's a dinosaur statue leaning against the wall. This made me jump the first time I played bloodlines. I was crouched down, trying to sneak my way through here, and then I turn to my left and there's a fucking dinosaur with its mouth open waiting to greet me.

Next to the statue, there's a note attached to the wall.



OF particular interest to us is the fact that this maintence guy is leaving his keys around. We could continue further into the museum, but let's explore these side hallways a little first, in search of these keys.



Sure enough...



There's the key to some office here in the museum.



Now let's get down to exploring this museum. To state the obvious, we're here to find the Ankaran Sarcophagus, which is being held here. That means that there's a pretty heavy security presence inside the museum, since it's a rare and valuable artifact. There's also the fact that the sarcophagus is probably being held somewhere way back into the museum, behind several layers of security. LaCroix wants us to pull this heist off with complete stealth. That's not an option here, at least for me. I would be a lot easier with dots in obfuscate, but we're not playing as a Malkavian or Nosferatu.



What this means is that if we're detected by security...



That's what'll happen.



Up here, there's supposedly $100 sitting on a pterodactyl's head. Good luck trying to jump on it.

Killing that guard was noisy, and it set others nearby on alert.



So they have to be taken care of. It's a good thing their bodies disappear right after they die -- LaCroix would be furious if any bodies remained on the scene.



Attempting to go down these nearby stairs sets off that giant dinosaur head, a loud roar that puts the nearby guard on alert...



...resulting in his death.



Here on the ground floor, there's a giant dinosaur skeleton on display. I don't remember seeing anything as grand as this in any museum I ever visited.



There's also a cop who is suspicious that a door might be up to some illegal activity. The world is arguably better off without him.



The door he was guarding is the Museum Office.



Which is just life an office. Four cubicles, four computers we can't interact with. I'm sorry for all you cubicle workers reading this. What a boring life you must have.



I imagine you all leave your prescription bottles lying around your desks, too, popping pills at a moments notice to get you through the day.

There's a door that leads further into the museum, but it's locked behind a pretty decent skillcheck.



So let's explore the ground floor a little more. This is the lost and found. Poor little kids that get lost in museums -- that would have terrified me as a child.



Three things are of note here. The first is the clock. It's one of the few times we can tell what time of night it is.



The second is the computer terminal. We'll hack into the email first. The password is iluvgabe.

1 posted:

<Subject> Reminder
<From> C. Marshall

Just a reminder, Dr. Anders Johansen - AKA the sarcophagus guy - will be working at the museum for the next few daya. Show him the professional courtesy we show all our guests.
-CM

We first learned about Johansen on the Elizabeth Dane, where he was menioned in an email as 'Professor Johansen'. He's probably not here right now, with it being night, but he'd probably be a valuable asset to LaCroix.

2 posted:

<Subject> Fetish
<From> pking@nmh.vtm

That statue on Daryl's workstation is creeping me out. I was working late the other night and I swear I thought I saw it move. This isn't another gag is it? If it is, I don't think it's funny.
-Pam.

This sounds close to that occult item from a museum that Pisha wanted us to retrieve. Come to think of it, didn't LaCroix mention a small box that was shipped with the Dane? He might have been referring to this. We should try to find it.

3 posted:

<Subject> VIRUS ALERT: read me!
<From> adcxu@mail.vtm

MAV has detected a virus in the attachment of this message. The virus has been quarantined and a notice sent to adcxu@mail.net.

4 posted:

<Subject> thanks
<From> JJ Elmster

Those keys you found? They're Larry's. I'll tell him you left them in the lost and found.

Keys are always good. We should take them, if they're still here. Now we'll go into the sales directory. The password is griff.



No sales figures. It figures.



The third thing of interest is this newspaper clipping, but it doesn't tell us anything we don't already know.



Museum Security? That ought to be good.



I guess it serves me right, not being as careful as I should. There's actually a way to drop in here from a ventilation shaft overhead, but that requires we find the entrance to it in a bathroom. This was a little faster.



After killing that guard, we find the basement key, just what we need. There's a server room that we can go into, but there's nothing to find in there.



Downstairs we go. If we're going to find the sarcophagus anywhere in here, it's probably going to be as far down as we can go.





Whoops.



The guards were already on alert.



You can see that there are cameras on the wall. If they spot us, an alarm goes off, and if there are more security guards in the area, they'll make their way to our position. If you're trying to do this mission with stealth, these cameras will be the bane of your existence. We can turn them off by going into the security room you saw two screenshots ago, but it's likely that you'll be caught if you don't have any dots in obfuscate.

We go in there and turn them off even though we've taken care of the guards. It's just a boring computer interaction without anything extra -- no need to show it off.



We've seen that there are two lines. You can imagine that the red line takes us towards wherever the sarcophagus is being stored. But let's follow the green line first, see what that takes us to.



The green line eventually takes us towards this side-room. It looks like there could be some interesting artifacts in there, maybe even that thing Pisha was looking for. How do we get in?



We shoot our way in. Deceptively simple.



And just like that, there's the fetish statue. Pisha should be pleased, though it looks a little weird.



Moving on, the green line also takes us to a side-room with a door entrance. Shocking, I know. We pick up this general museum key from the room.



The green path eventually meets up with the red path, counter-intuitively, but we can't go any further because we don't know the code.



So we follow the red path backwards, and we're eventually led to this nice little office. In the desk we find a gold ring and a watch -- why these would be left here overnight is beyond me -- and take them, and on top of the desk we find a note.



People sure love to leave sensitive passwords lying around in the world of darkness. With this, we'll head through the previously locked door.



Passing a deactivated camera, we're eventually led to another security room.



THe life expectancy of any security guard in the world of darkness must be pretty low. We take care of him, and by that I mean take him out to dinner, and continue forward...



...but our path is blocked by these laser beams! The solution is to go back into the security room we just passed and shut them off via a computer terminal. Alternatively, you can attack an electrical panel on the wall, but that makes the beams flicker in and out. It's easier to just shut them off. All they do is sound the alarm if you touch them, they're not sci-fi burning lasers.



Continuing forward, we're taken through a storage area, low lighting and boxes everywhere. This must be the place.



It should--



gone!?



Beckett!?



Beckett? What are you doing here?

This shouldn't be surprising, come to think of it. If there's a discovery to be made, Beckett will be near.

I'm an archaeologist, so I thought I'd indulge in a quick study of this Ankaran Sarcophagus everyone's so riled up about. My guess, from what I've read about it, is that it's a mummified Mesopotamian king. I needed confirmation.

Did you get to examine it at all?

Oh, I really wish I had. All this speculation about the sarcophagus containing an Antediluvian and being a portent of Gehenna is making me cringe. These are the kinds of ridiculous, superstitious assumptions I came here to debunk.

We're forced into asking about what we already know of:

Antediluvians?

No one I know has ever met one, but each of the clans and their bloodlines supposedly trace their origin to an original vampire - an Antediluvian. Some swear these grandsires still exist into the present. But then, Kindred and kine believe a lot of strange things.

And Gehenna?

Armageddon, doomsday, the end of all Kindred. It's a common facet of most mythologies - fear that the world will end. Many believe Caine and the Antediluvians will return to consume or destroy all Kindred. I wholeheartedly disagree.

Why do you disagree?



Beckett's pompousness is unfitting. His argument here doesn't actually demonstrate that Gehenna is false.


Humans and Kindred are just as capable of managing their own destruction as a deity. A self-realized Gehenna warrants more vigilance than a god-induced one, don't you agree? Such is my argument... which so frequently falls on deaf ears.

The argument that Gehenna is just the projection of the Kindred's ability for self-destruction would be a better one, but it's not an argument that Beckett makes.

We can ask Beckett more questions about Gehenna, but also his pet fascination, the thin-bloods.

Can you tell me more about thin-bloods?

Thin-bloods rarely exhibit features or powers of their clan and many can't Embrace. Some are even rumored to have reproduced. Many Kindred are terrified that their weak blood heralds the dissipation of every bloodline. Somewhat of an ignorant, reactionary response, don't you think?

Who's Caine?

Caine is the biblical first Kindred and founder of the mythological First City, Enoch - a place where Kindred and kine coexisted. I believe Caine's a figure concocted to personify the transition from nomadic society to agrarian society. That myth, like most, has been twisted by time.

Are there any other signs of Gehenna?

What prophecy doesn't have vague, apocryphal signs? Let's see, the usual ones cited are the appearance of thin-bloods, Caine sightings, doom, gloom, that route.

This is all fascinating stuff... how long have you been studying Kindred lore?



This bumped up our academics stat by one. I don't like any of these answers, but I'll choose the least stupid one.

We're the next evolution of human beings.

Yes, I've heard that theory before. It certainly seems plausible, but there's little proof to support it. Still, it's a better explanation than a divine sentence for manslaughter.

I agree.



Look at that shit eating grin.

Goodbye, Beckett.


The screen fades out...



...and then we're transported back downtown. LaCroix isn't going to take this well, but we'll have to wait until next time to tell him. I'm sorry if this update wasn't very good. I don't like this quest, so it's hard to make it interesting.