Scarlet Vampire
A Lonely Hope
Scene 8
Exhausted
and drained, Hanson stumbled into her haven, a small apartment in the basement
of the offices she shared with Gina. Dawn was less than an hour away, and the
desperate need for sleep was ready to overpower her. The lights suddenly came
on, and a voice said to her “pushing it a little close, aren’t you?”
Gypsy sat smugly in the only chair in the place. She was not only Hanson’s sire, the vampire who had turned her, but also her “boss”—the Prince’s top enforcer. “What the fuck do you want, Gyp?” “Just to make sure my favorite childe is alive and well. Oh, and to ask you just what the hell you think you’re doing?” “My damn job.” “Really? Your job? Since when does your job entail getting into a brawl in front of a cop? Or mixing it up with Cora of all people?”
Hanson
merely shrugged. She didn’t feel the need to explain herself to anyone. Her
childish defiance only increased Gypsy’s annoyance. “Why didn’t you check in?
Get some damn backup? You’re not some anarch, for God’s sake.”
“Spare me the bullshit, Gyp. What the hell do you want?” She stood up and walked up to Hanson. “Whatever is going on with Dona isn’t your damn job. Observe and report, that’s it, childe. Anything else is none of your fucking concern.”
“They
threatened the Masquerade.”
“Did they? Oh, I’m sorry. I forgot when you became the Prince. It’s not your damn call, so don’t get delusions. So drop it, you hear me. Drop it.” Then, softening, she said “come by the club tomorrow night. I have something else I need you to work on.” |
Following the events of last time, Scene 8 is a rest scene, and Hanson is ordered to drop the
case. While only a single scene, I decide that several days will pass before
Scene 9 begins. Things remain quiet, and Hanson is kept busy with bullshit
work. In fact, she’s kept busier than she ever has before, which makes her all
the more suspicious. Which leads to the next scene.
Scene
9
Hunt up an Actor whom you have reason to
suspect can give you a Clue.
The question, of course, is just who is the Actor. I roll
on Mythic, but it’s not anyone we’ve met already. Still, they would obviously
be related to Adrian in some way, either as a Clan member or one of the few
members of his little cult. I decide it’s a 50/50 chance, and with a 62 they end up being a cult member. I decide to turn
to not only U.N.E but also the Covetous Poet’s Adventure Guide. Here are the results I get.
From U.N.E.
Hopeless Charmer who is comparable to Hanson
and whose motivation is to Maintain Lies, Administer Composure, and Possess Family.
From Covetous
Poet
Action: 392 Fail
Thing: 355 Important
Family
Plot: 426 Thought
you were dead!
Opposition: 99 Femme
Fatale
Location: 657 Physicians
Office
|
He is Percy Nowack, a Ventrue neonate and a charismatic
fool. He was a terrible disappointment to his mortal family, but managed to
charm his sire enough to convince them that he had potential. He didn’t. He
hides under what little protection Adrian can provide. I decide that the Femme Fatale
is going to be Cora, even though she is FAR from the classic definition. Still,
she’s a woman, and she’s lethal as hell. The doctor’s office is where the
encounter takes place. Not sure what to do with “thought you were dead!”—I’ll
say that everyone assumed that Percy had been run out of town, and his sudden
reappearance peaked Hanson’s curiosity, hence why she hunted him down.
I
decide that the first challenge for this scene is actually the “key” one,
actually tracking Percy down. I decide to “front load” the mechanics for this
scene, as it will take part over multiple days. These will be a combination
of Social (at a difficulty of 10) and Mental Challenges (difficulty 8),
derived from the story's Threat.
First, she needs to become aware of who Percy is. How much does she know about him, really? This will be a Social challenge.
Charisma[2]+Etiquette[1] 10,4,9, 1 Success. Not a lot, only that he used to
run with Adrian and has supposedly fled the city.
Next,
she needs to ask around and see what the word on “the street” is to find out
that he’s back in town.
Manipulation[2]+Streetwise[2] 5,10,5,10, 2 Successes. She knows he’s back, and
laying low. It’s pretty clear her rep on the Street is better than at Court.
The
next challenge will be a proper investigation. There really isn’t a system in
place for this, so I decide a simple variation on the tracking rules.
Perception[2]+Investigate[4] 1,9,9,6,4,3 1 Success. It takes her a while, and so
she locates Percy. Mechanically, the scene is done, but I would like to play
it out a bit.
|
Hanson
wasn’t happy. She had been kept busy the past few nights, which didn’t do
much for her happiness, but at least kept her from spending too much time
focusing on it. Every night, some new task was dropped in her lap. Escort
this important vamp to a meeting, guard the Princes new favorite, do background
checks on strangers in town--that sort of thing. Just enough to keep her
busy, and out of the way, keep her distracted. But not distracted enough to
see that she was being played. And now, tonight, she was finally free from
being distracted. For the past two she’d been shadowing some fledgling puke
as he hid in alleyways and kept almost, but not quite, bringing himself to
feed.
The
Elders liked to leave the new fish alone for a few nights, see how they
handled things. Were they too cowardly? Too vicious? Could they survive? Did
they immediately blabber to their friends and family? They may have been left
alone, but they were always watched. Most of the time it was by their sire,
but sometimes others stepped in. Now it was Hanson’s turn, and it was just about
as boring as you can imagine it. Watching this fledgling skulk in dumpsters
gave her time to think, far too much time.
She knew she was on the outs, that she had pissed people off. But that wasn’t what she was thinking about—she was used to having people pissed at her. It was Cora that bothered her. Cora was a bad-ass, and everyone knew it. On top of that, she was a true-blue independent. She obeyed the Traditions, and the Prince, and that was it. No one owned her. So why the hell was she working for Adrian? She couldn’t have given a damn about his “crusade.” Money? Maybe, but it’s not like someone as old and nasty as her needed to work for a living. He might have had something over her, or more likely called in a lot of favors to get something over her—but why? Why would Adrian need someone like Cora to fuck with Dona. Dona is a neonate, and honestly couldn’t fight her way out of paper bag. Why spend the time and resources hiring someone like Cora? There was more going on, and it was scratching at her thoughts. No matter how many times she tried to ignore it, to close the damn case and focus on what was new, the damn scratch always brought her back. It had always been this way ever since she was a kid and reading Encyclopedia Browns books and things didn’t add up. She couldn’t just let them be. And so, despite being told to let things go, Hanson hadn’t. She had asked around about Adrian, both among the vamps and the mortals. He was keeping himself pretty clean and isolated these days, but word was that an old buddy of his, Percy, had been seen back in town. Last time Percy was around, there had been some bullshit attempt at a coup against the Prince, and Percy had fled. No one had ever officially linked Percy to the coup, but when that shit happens bodies tend to drop faster than questions.
In
theory he was back, but no one was sure what he was up to. He was definitely
laying low, even, apparently, avoiding feeding. Or so everyone thought.
Hanson had run the numbers at the hospital and the Red Cross, and one
particular blood donation site was delivering less than half of what they
used to. Percy was using it to get his fix. Hanson was sure of it.
And
this damn fledgling had just let a nice, drunk frat boy walk right past him.
Hell, if he was still worried that it might be “gay” to feed off a guy, he
was pretty far from frenzying and doing something stupid. She could let him
be for a few hours. She turned the engine over and headed to the outskirts of
town.
It took
her less than half an hour to get there—one of the perks of being nocturnal.
Traffic was something others had to worry about. There was a generic row of
two story buildings in some off-brand “corporate office park.” Half the office
were doctors or dentists or chiropractors. The rest were accountants and lawyers—everything
the mortal world needed to keep functioning. The one she wanted was “CBM
Plasma” – a nice, quiet and out of way blood bank. Just what a vamp on the
run would want.
She
parked her car and cautiously approached the building. It was quiet and cold
on the door. She thought briefly of forcing her way in, but decided to err on
the side of caution. She moved her car down several rows of offices, till she
could just see the doors through a mess of trees and a gap between buildings,
then settled down to wait.
One
upside to being dead, she thought. Stakeouts are much more pleasant. She
never got bored hungry anymore, her muscles never got sore from sitting for
hours, and she never had to pee. There were plenty of downsides, of course,
but this was a plus.
She didn’t need to wait long. Only an hour or so had passed before a car—looked like a luxury sedan of some sort, but she couldn’t tell from this angle and distance—pulled up right in front of CBM. They must be pretty confident, to be so brazen. And then she saw why they were so confidant. Some weasely little nobody crawled out of the driver’s seat, Percy most likely. But out of the passenger seat, came Cora.
Fucking
Cora.
|
All right, Hanson needs to get Percy alone, and that means
getting rid of Cora. She grabs the shotgun from the back seat and creeps up to
the building which houses CMB Plasma, and ducks into the shadows by the
entrance. Her plan is to wait for them to come out, then hopefully take out
Cora quickly, before grabbing Percy for a little “talk.” She’ll go ahead and
spent 2 Blood Points to increase her Dexterity
to 5 (6 with Celerity).
First,
Hanson needs to make a Stealth
check to remain hidden when the two come out. As Cora has already been
generated (her sheet is here), I’ll use her Perception+Alertness (7) for the difficulty, rather than the
standard Threat.
Dexterity[6]+Stealth[2] 10,9,4,6,1,9,1,1,7. A whole mess of 1’s
there, but still enough to get 1 Success. It’s enough.
|
Cora
opened the door, and casually scanned the parking lot. Once she was certain
the coast was clear, she waved Percy forward. He was still licking the damn plastic
bag clean, slurping hungrily at the drips of blood that remained. He was a
disgusting, petty creature, and the sooner she was done with him, the better.
She let the door close behind her, knowing the lock would catch automatically. She hadn’t made it more than a few feet before she heard a voice behind her. “Hey Cora! Fancy meeting you here.” She knew the voice. It was Hanson. What the fuck is she doing here? Cora thought, spinning around to face her. She had made it halfway before she saw the shotgun pointing at her knees. And then the flames spewed forth. |
Since
Hanson remained hidden, she automatically gets a surprise round on Cora.
Determined not to waste it, she spends a blood point and activates her Celerity. Due to the sudden speed of the ambush, Cora
will not be able to attempt to dodge (not that she would…). Due the closeness
of the attack, this a point-blank
attack and the difficulty is only a 3. The base damage for the shotgun is 6.
The first attack is particularly important, and Hanson will spend a Willpower
point to get an additional success.
Action
1
Attack: Dexterity
[6]+Firearms[3] 3,6,7,8,5,10,4,10,10 + 1 for 10 total successes.
She hit
well, but hitting Cora isn’t hard.
It’s hurting her that’s tricky. The
base difficulty is 3+Stamina[4]+Fortitude [5] for a total of 12.
This means Hanson must roll against a difficulty of 10, and the first two
successes don’t count.
Damage: Weapon[6]+Successes
[10] 10,10,2,10,4,1,2,10,3,7,4,9,10,5,10,6,8 5
total successes for damage. Which means that Cora faces 3 of them. She needs
to roll her Stamina and Fortitude against a difficulty of Weapons
Damage[6]+3, or 9.
Soak: Stamina[4]+Fortitude[5]
6,4,8,1,7,3,8,3,1 Not only does she fail, but
this is a botch, which means one of the wound levels is Aggravated.
Action
2
Attack: Dexterity
[6]+Firearms[3] 4,5,9,8,1,10,6,5,3 7
Successes.
Damage: Weapon[6]+Successes[7]
10,10,7,5,7,3,6,8,4,10,4,10,3 4 Successes.
Soak: Stamina[4]+Fortitude[5]
2,4,10,2,2,5,2,6,1 Not a botch, but still a
failure. She takes all 4 levels of damage. Combined the first wounds, Cora is
reduced to Incapacitated.
|
“You fucking bitch! I’m going to rip out
your goddamn lungs.”
Hanson racked another round and leveled the barrel at Cora’s face. “Shut up. If you behave yourself, maybe I won’t dump you into the goddamn sewer.” Percy was taking panicked breaths, and making as if he wanted to run. Keeping her eyes on Cora, she lifted the shotgun in his general direction. “And you. You I want to have a word with.” |
Now is
the time for some information, and Hanson is done playing nice, so he’s going
to try and scare the information out of him. The standard Social difficulty
is 10, but after taking out his body guard so quickly, I reduce Hanson’s
difficulty to intimidate Percy by 2, to 8.
Manipulation[3]+Intimidate[2] 6,3,9,8,7 2 Successes. He squeals. |
But what does she learn? To determine that, I decide to
generate the next scene, which will be an Action Scene.
Sabotage
a tool, evidence, or ally of the
foe so that it betrays their attempted use of it.
Whatever she learns, Percy points her in the direction of
the tool/evidence/ally, and that exposing it would be embarrassing at best for
Adrian. I have a few ideas, but I’ll hash them out in the next post. For now,
it’s time to update our chart. As this
was an investigation scene, Adrian gets to roll against the current Count and
gets a 1, increasing his Victory Points as well.
Victory Points
|
Heat
|
||||||||
Hanson
|
6
|
Opponent
|
5
|
2
|
|||||
Investigation & Action Scene Count
|
6
|
||||||||
Willpower (max 6)
|
6
|
Blood Pool (Max 11)
|
11
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Health (Max 7)
|
7
|
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Scene Number
|
Type
|
Description
|
Result
|
||||||
1
|
Investigation
|
Tail an Actor who might have a Clue. On
a check failure, face a Fight.
|
Failed
to Tail, succeed on Fight
|
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2
|
Action
|
Face the foe's best warrior
|
Failure
|
||||||
3
|
Rest
|
Hanson hunts, feeds, and heals
|
N/A
|
||||||
4
|
Investigation
|
Trick an Actor into revealing a Clue.
|
Failure
|
||||||
5
|
Investigation
|
Waylaid by hostile Actor
|
Success
|
||||||
6
|
Action
|
Convince an ally of the foe to betray
them
|
Success
|
||||||
7
|
Conflict
|
Suffer betrayal by an Actor.
|
Success
|
||||||
8
|
Rest
|
Rest and Recover
|
N/A
|
||||||
9
|
Investigation
|
Hunt down an Actor to provide a Clue
|
Success
|
||||||
10
|
Action
|
Sabotage a tool, etc., to betray the
foes use
|
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Rules and Mechanics
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