A Lonely Hope -- Scene 10

Scarlet Vampire

A Lonely Hope

Scene 10

In the last Scene, Hanson was able to track down an ally of Adrian’s, Percy, who gave up some key intel. The prompt for the next scene was

Sabotage a tool, evidence, or ally of the foe so that it betrays their attempted use of it.

Ok, so, Percy gave her something good, and Hanson is going to try sabotage it, to expose Adrian’s shenanigans to the wider vampire world. Now, I just need to figure out what exactly it is that Hanson is going to try to fuck with, and how said fucking will expose Adrian. Time to turn to Mythic!

One of the reason I like Mythic so much is its ability to not just answer yes/no questions (a feature most of its derivatives have), but also “complex questions.” So, I begin with the question of “What asset of Adrian’s is Hanson now aware of?” 99 Oppress 98 Fame Thinking about this for a moment, I decide that he has been blackmailing a notable Kindred. Since the key is “Fame,” this isn’t necessarily a powerful vampire, but one that is well known and well liked. Whatever blackmail material he has, I assume it would be something very, very bad that he discovered either directly (perhaps this vampire was once a part of his little “church”) or indirectly (via one of his “congregation”). Vampires, of course, don’t really care that much about many things that humans would consider a “crime”—but actions such murdering another vampire or creating a new vampire or anything that violates the Traditions is an option. So, who is this vampire?  It could be someone we’ve met before—Conservation of Detail and all that. On the other hand, getting this intel was pretty rough, and that implies that it’s something Hanson didn’t know before. So, I set the odds to 50/50. 63, No. So, someone we haven’t met before.  I could go to the Random Vampire charts, but I think I’ll go with the U.N.E. Habitual steward whose motivation is to refine the church, achieve the wealthy, and secure ghosts. I then go back to Mythic to try and fill out some more details. Is this character a vampire? [Very Likely, 85%] 19, Yes. What is this characters “sin” (7 Tradition traditions, so I roll 1d7] 7 Destruction. He killed someone he shouldn’t have. Is this “sin” related to a character we’ve already met? [Likely, 75%] 33, Yes. Which character? We have the following established characters: (1) Dona, (2) Blaine, (3) Cora, (4) Samuel, (5) Sophia, (6) Gypsy, (7) Percy. I again roll 1d7 and get 2--Blaine.   Is it Blaine’s sire? [Very Unlikely 25%] 20. Finally, I turn to Covetous Poet for the final details. Action: 726 Punish Thing: 431 Last Will Plot: 100 Bad Partner Opposition: 29 Evil Businessman Location: 426 Hidden Chamber Long story short, Adrian knows that Marko, Blaine’s sire, has killed a fellow vampire many years ago. The two of them were allies and coterie mates, but Marko killed him in a fit of jealousy and rage. He then blamed the killing on the anarchs of the city. In fact, the vampire in question was named Thomas, and was a childe of the Prince. When the Prince heard of his death, he launched a series of reprisals against the anarchs, a purge that none of them have forgotten. If either the Prince or the anarchs heard of this, Marko’s life would be short lived.

Marko? Fuck! Hanson thought as she sped away from the clinic. Marko was big, a major player. One of the Prince’s closest friends. Well, not friends. Do vampires really have friends? But allies, confidants. Advisers. Whatever. He was close to the Prince. Taking a deep and unneeded breath, Hanson carefully thought through the situation. Dona shows up in town. No, wait, Dona is recruited by Adrian. His little cult is going nowhere, so he brings in the charismatic visionary to give it a boost. She’s good at what she does, but she doesn’t want to play by his rules. She goes off on her own, and has the kind of success Adrian always dreamed of. Probably because Adrian always viewed “redemption” as a means to power, while Dona honestly doesn’t give a damn about power. He’s jealous, so he starts sabotaging her. But he doesn’t have the resources or the clout or, frankly, the intelligence to do this himself. So, he blackmails Marko, and uses Percy as the go-between. Marko had a moment of weakness, thought he could trust Adrian. Now he’s on the hook for eternity. But where does Blaine fit in on all this? Is he just following orders? Or does he really not know what’s going on? He could be filling his sire in on what Dona is up to—backing her is his own little rebellion, and the son of a bitch does love to talk and brag. She’s put’s him firmly in the maybe column. What about Cora? Does Cora really give a damn? Marko has the clout to hire her, either with cash or territory or just favors. She doubts that Cora would ever find herself in Adrian’s cult, but maybe she’s being blackmailed too? Another maybe, but it doesn’t matter. After her stunt tonight, next time Cora will be ready to eat her heart. Not that any of this mattered. Knowing the information and proving it where two wildly different things. The Prince surely wouldn’t take her word for it. The anarchs might, but they might also think it was a setup if they heard it from her. Could she trust Blaine with this? Or perhaps confront Marko directly? Maybe try some blackmailing of her own?

Who does Hanson go to with this information? The Prince is out—with nothing but second hand information, Hanson has no reason to believe he would take her seriously. The anarchs are likewise out. She could go to Gypsy, her sire might believe her, and has the resources and clout to do something. Blaine is another option, as he can feed his sire bad information or just nothing. Or, she could confront Marko directly. I decide to roll for it. 3 She’s going to Marko.

Hanson heads over to the Tremon Gallery, where she’s heard there’s an exhibit going on, and she’s pretty sure that’s where a Toreador like Marko would be this night. It’s a private event, but she’s got enough clout and rep to force her way in. Once there, she’s lost for how to proceed. Marko is there, but surrounded constantly by a crowd. An officious little man comes up to her, asking how he can help her, while looking disdainfully at her outfit. She has him give a message to Marko, that it’s about Adrian, and she heads outside to the patio, where the bored models gather to smoke and gossip.

It’s almost half an hour before Marko finally makes his way outside.

“Ms. Hanson, isn’t it?” He smiled warmly at her while he took her hand. “I had heard tales of your exploits, but they told me nothing of your exquisite beauty. If I had only known you were at art lover, I would have seen that you had a personalized invitation to the event.” He was good, but not as good as Blaine. He couldn’t quite fake it the way his childe could, or maybe he really was that upset at her being here. She pulled her hand back and didn’t bother returning the smile. “Charmed,” she said flatly. “But I’m less interested in art than I am history. Particularly, yours. Specifically, yours and Adrian’s and all the dirty little secrets he holding over you.” His smile began to fade slightly, and the predators glower began taking its place.

As before, Hanson has three rolls, and needs 10 total successes to flip Marko. However, since Marko does want out from under Adrian’s thumb, I decide that if she scores 5, it’ll be a partial success. The difficulty is 8 for these rolls, because Hanson is a damn bull in a china shop. First, Hanson will attempt to intimidate Marko with how much she knows: Manipulation + Investigation [7] 5,8,5,8,10,5,7 for 3 Successes Secondly, she will attempt to scare with what will happen if others found out. She doesn’t really understand the network of politics, so she focuses on blowback from the Anarchs. Manipulation + Streetwise [5] 10,10,1,2,1 for No Successes. Finally, she will try to play the “good cop” and offer him a way out Charisma + Empathy [2] 10,8 for 2 Successes. With 5 successes, she technically fails the challenge. However, Marko is willing to work with her, so long as he benefits.

Hanson finished her spiel, and looked over the city, waiting for Marko to respond. After a few moments, she heard quiet laughter behind her. She had just made it crystal clear to this asshole what would happen if he didn’t do exactly as she said, and he was fucking laughing. “Ah, the youth,” he said, smiling. “It’s easy to forget how simple things seem. But, okay Hanson, I suppose there’s no harm in working with Gypsy’s childe. I can see what can be done about Adrian, but not at your word. And certainly not at your, what were they? ‘Threats?’ Yes, your ‘threats.’ I don’t particularly enjoying having people throw vague ‘threats’ at me. And you don’t have the credit to ‘owe me one.’ “No, I think I’ll take payment up front for this one. Adrian, well, Adrian likes his secrets. He has quite a few of them on tape, you know. I want the tapes. He keeps them hidden away somewhere in that atrocious abbey he calls a home. You get me the tapes, and I’ll see to it that your precious little Dona isn’t bothered anymore.”

Hanson has a new goal, which leads to a Conflict scene:

Sabotage or steal the foe's possessions that are important to the plot. Roll a die; on an odd result, face a Fight as well as a Check.

Hanson failed the scene, so her Opponent gains 1 Victory Point. In addition, they get to roll a 1d10, and if less than the current scene count, they gain an additional 1. They roll and get a 1, bringing their total up to 7.

With the Scene count so high, Hanson is heading to a spiral, where the Opponent can almost always gain a victory point, and she still needs at least 4 to pull out a victory. Let’s hope she can turn things around nexttime.

Victory Points								Heat
Hanson	6		Opponent			7		2
Investigation & Action Scene Count				7
Willpower (max 6)	5	Blood Pool (Max 11)			8		Health (Max 7)		7
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
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					Failure
11	Conflict		Steal foes possessions

Rules and Mechanics Base Game: Vampire: The Masquerade (1st Edition) Not familiar with Vampire? Check out the Primer Story Structure: Scarlet Vampire Oracle: Mythic Other Tools: Universal NPC Emulator, Covetous Poet's Adventure Creator, and Everyone, Everywhere