Part 54: LIV - Untouchable

It's time to finish this.



The moment we step into Venture Towers, we're approached by Chunk, who wants us to leave. Yeah, that's going to work.

Here's your big chance to be a hero. Try and stop me.
Aw, c'mon now, just leave okay? I don't wanna have to use force, but I am authorized to do so. Please don't make me do this, missy.
I'm going up. You can try and stop me or you can leave.



Once again, this is totally the point where an Intimidation roll would go way in Melissa's favor and Chunk would just shit himself because he put an entire magazine in her and all it did was get her slightly peeved. As it stands, we could have convinced Chunk to not attack us or Dominated him into doing so (or used Dementation (WESP )), but we're still banged up from the battle with Ming-Xiao, sooo...



CHOMP. Do fat guys taste better than slim guys, assuming similar intelligence, social standing and the like?



The lobby is filled with cops. Cops with colts. Yeah, they're not touching Melissa at this point. I can just jerk around, and theoretically I could punch all these cops to death without taking any major damage.



Personally, I went with the colt since I'm just going to get the ammo right back, but it doesn't really matter.



And while there's nothing really threatening going on, might as well put some points into Brawl to improve our odds of feeding during combat.



I can only imagine the absolutely dejected look of disdain on Melissa's face as she gets "beat" on by this cop with his night stick and being absolutely unharmed. "Are you being serious right now, sir?" Once again, I wish this was a pen and paper game where the Storyteller can describe in great detail just how the cop pisses himself as he realizes just what the fuck is going on.



In the back, there's this door we can open...



...which leads to what I can only assume is the Nosferatu entrance for Venture Towers! I never played a Nosferatu before, but a door leading to pretty much nothing but a manhole and an elevator only leaves that much to the imagination.



Anyway, we head back and call the elevator, which takes a long time to come down, probably so that you can't just leg it and bypass the combat. Of course, we've already killed everybody, so it's just a day at the office, whistling while you wait for the elevator.



And up to the penthouse we go! I guess this is going to be a fairly short update. They must have realized that the endless combat either is incredibly aggravating or just annoying, and cut it for this segment.



Oh wait, the elevator stops somewhere halfway through and we have to get off.



Oh man, there's a cop looking out the window that somehow didn't notice the elevator rumbling and stopping here...



Can you see something? I think you can, but it's too late...



WHAM! These stealth kills are always really satisfying. However, for the next bit, we won't really have the luxury of going stealthy. So fuck it, guns akimbo it is.



I can't see you, but my vampire senses (read: the crosshair) tell me you're somewhere there!



Hm, the door closed on us. Did I get you?



Yes, I did! So yeah, now I'm using the Glock because nobody can touch Melissa anyway, so fuck it.



The surroundings turn into office cubicles where it's easy to get turned around. I got lost here in the first recording, and it's not that big an area, but it's so samey.



Eventually, we come to this side door, which leads to the next level.



The next level is a really, really tight corridor with a bunch of doors we can't open. So we just run through, gun down everybody in our way, and eventually make it to...



...the cafeteria!



And we're serving up SWAT units!



SWAT units that also don't really do a lot of damage.



Still, these guys have a lot of health, so I whip out the Steyr to make things quicker. The SWAT guys go down without much of a fight. Now, let's see what they're serving up here in this cafeteria...



S&M - All Deviant Food. Just the thing for the WoD. Don't order the root beer float without a safeword.



Hungry Veggie's No Meatza. Meh. While I do enjoy a four cheese pizza, I do get a hankering for a real pizza filled with meat every now and then, and probably especially while working an office job at Venture Towers. Also, gosh!coffee. Gosh!



And finally, EXTREEEEEEME TOFU! Pretty sure that's how that's supposed to be said.



Also, there's this wonderful special on offer...



...and these spectacular pizzas. The previous stuff had me thinking takeout, but it seems like that's not great either. Food where you're better off being a vampire when you eat it! As a vampire, you just puke it up again. As a human, you'd probably fucking die!



We head up to the roof, and there's quite a few SWAT guys there. You can't see them, but that's not a problem, they won't last anyway.



Hey, you shouldn't be standing that close to the gla-



Welp. Let's go take a look and see how they fel-



SHIT



Oh hey, no falling damage. Still adds some time to our trip, though.



Back on the roof, we can see there's still a lot of levels to Venture Towers proper.



And this pipe indicated by the Inspection sparkle is going to get us to that part. It's there, you probably can't really see it, but it's there.



See, we're in it now!



And now we're in the next area of Venture Towers, a level that seems to be under construction.



It involves more SWAT dudes. Once again, not a big deal.



But after that, we find ourselves in an interesting situation.



LaCroix dominated a guard, and strapped explosives to him in order to blow Melissa up! That's pretty smart thinking. He's also speaking directly through the guard, with LaCroix's own voice. I'm not sure how exactly that works - going by the White Wolf wiki, the most fitting Dominate power for that is Dominate 5, Possession - "Transfer your mind into a mortal body and control their actions", but does that allow you to literally speak through the subject? Reading through a wiki for Vampire: The Dark Ages, level 5 Dominate's Vessel does exactly that, so I guess it checks out.

I'm coming for you, LaCroix! You hear me? I'm coming for you!
Tick, tick, tick... a bien tot, Kindred.



So now we have a very stringent time limit to take out this guard, but he's not strong at all, so this isn't an issue.



And now we have some Astrolite to use... hmmm...



...hmmm...



...yeah, this'll work.



And there it goes!



We hide a fair distance away (the first time I got blown up by being too close) and our little surprise for the guards on the upper floor is a smashing success.



We then ride the elevator up ourselves...



...and find nothing but a bunch of weapons lying around. Six in total - this little explosive saved us some ammo, which is always nice.



We also find another working elevator, which is very much nice.



It doesn't go all the way up to the penthouse, but at least it goes up a fair bit further to some high-class looking place.



Going into it, we're immediately under fire from all sides, so thankfully we're going full tank here.



Heading out of the stairway and into the interior, we see that we're now being matched up with Ventrue and not regular humans. Note that all these Ventrue use the same model in this game - the one for the PC. Which means...



MY OWN CLONE!



However, these Ventrue are not quite up to snuff either. They're actually capable of dealing some damage, but again, it's not really worthwhile.



We find this computer in one of the offices. Command "lights", password "hitthelights", command "disable"...



...and now the lights are off. I guess it helps with sneaking, but we're not doing it.



For some reason, I don't turn the lights back on, so at some point, I can only see things thanks to the muzzle flashes, which is not a very good thing.



So instead I decide to make some light another way.



Once again, the Dragon's Breath isn't really great. It's like only the fire does any damage, not the shotgun part.



We fight our way through some board-room looking thing, and finally find another elevator.



Once again, it's not the penthouse, but we're making progress. Now, what's next?



Oh.



Crap.

Watch Boss Fight:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5emLD8EKYw

The Sheriff is one bad motherfucker. Basically, the big problem is that 1) his sword does big damage, and 2) whenever you do some damage to him...



...he disappears...



...and immediately reappears behind you, ready to shove his sword up your slow ass. Celerity helps a ton in this battle, but we don't have that. So it's basically a constant hit and run where you have to fucking immediately turn around and start backpedaling the moment you see him disappear and repeat that until he goes down.



But of course he doesn't just go down, no. Instead, he transforms into this bat-thing...



...grabs Melissa...



...and throws her out to some helicopter landing place or something like that, and the second phase of the fight starts.



This part is pretty annoying, too. Basically, not only are you being set upon by the Sheriff in his bat form, but also several mini-werewolf type enemies and cops and shit.



The basic principle of winning is that you turn on the spotlights, which hit the Sheriff...



...who then drops down and is paralyzed for a bit, letting you fire upon him with impunity. Repeat that until he's dead.

Also, there was some discussion I've heard regarding what exactly the Sheriff is, but as far as I'm concerned, this isn't one of the mysteries. This boss is called the "Chiropteran Marauder". That's the name of a level 6 Vicissitude power, which lets you transform into a huge flying bat. So that already narrows it down massively, and then you add the spectral wolves that he called upon during the intro, which is level 3 Animalism (Spectral Wolves only exists in Bloodlines, but it counts), making him clearly a Nagloper, an African Tzimisce offshoot. Now what a low-gen Nagloper is doing being a lapdog for a Camarilla Prince is a different question, but I guess that's some sort of thing where being a Prince's sheriff gives you a lot of opportunity to get a whole bunch of murdering on, which is right up a Nagloper's alley.

Anyway, now that we've taken care of the Sheriff...



...it's time to deal with LaCroix. We're actually just teleported right here - I guess they couldn't figure out how to get us back into the building or thought it would just be too tedious.

Now, you can pick where this will go. Since I wanted to show all the endings in some capacity, I have both the ending where Melissa opens it and the one where she doesn't open it in video form. Going further, I'm going to post the ending where she doesn't open it as Melissa's "canon" ending. But if you want to see what happens if she opens it without knowing what's in it, here's your chance.

Don't Open It:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hASjslGfL3o

Do Open It:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAj_QlgPWFk

Now, let's get to LaCroix.



I would very much recommend watching the video. LaCroix's voice actor does a really great job during this scene.

And I have the key, motherfucker.
You've done all the work for me, once again. So much to learn. I thought I had lost it all, but no, here you've sailed on a Gehenna wind, bearing my salvation - the key to my future.
Shut your goddamn mouth, you long-winded, euro-trash prick. It's go time.



At this point, LaCroix tries to dominate Melissa, much like he'd successfully do early in the game when we were defiant towards him. However...

Fuck you.
I said, give - me - the - key!
Get this!



And with that, Melissa grabs the dagger that has been laying there the entire game...



...and gives LaCroix a quick one...



...two...



...three.



And as the thread voted...

Take the key. I hope you get what's coming to you. Goodbye, LaCroix.



...she drops the key...



...and leaves.



LaCroix proceeds to drag himself over to the key.

Fool! You should've finished me! I've got the key! In a few seconds, I'll be strong enough to crush you like paper! This whole city!



He then gets that wide-eyed stare. He's way past sense at this point, only driven by his lust for power.



He drags himself over to the sarcophagus alongside the key...



...and lifts it up.

In a few seconds... it will all be mine... power!



He inserts the key, and it opens to reveal...



...explosives!



And LaCroix can only do one more thing...



...laugh.



And then the top of Venture Towers explodes.



As Melissa steps out into the streets of downtown LA through the rubble...



...the Anarchs show up with Nines.

Damn. Kid, I knew your reputation, but... hell, I don't think any of us could have done LaCroix like that.



Melissa basically just walks straight through them.

Hey kid, where you goin'?



One final "fuck you" to the Kindred of LA.

Hey, hear me out! We could use someone like you! ... Kid?



And Melissa walks out into the night, having made her legend.



We change scenes, to a grassy hill outside LA, where we find Jack and somebody else watching the show.

Now ain't that a beautiful thing? Hey, Messerach, Buddy, I'm talkin' to you!



You don't really talk much, do ya?



Is that who I think it is back there?

Hey, it happened just like you said. They never even knew what hit 'em. Threw that sarcophagus out there and they just tore each other up tryin' to get to it.



And the kid... worked out alright, huh?

We fade to black.

Remember, wherever we go, it is the blood of Caine which makes our fate. Farewell, vampire.



And that's Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines, everybody! Stay tuned for the other endings (including the seeeeecret ending and the WESP-added Sabbat ending, so you just know you're in for some fun!)!