Rick, glad that Kate had made a breakthrough of any sort, waits for her to continue with her revelation.
BAPTISM OF FIRE - Saturday - January 3, 1993 -
Kate exits the Vault and informs the entire group [now all assembled with the exception of James in the Vault] that Lodin was indeed present here the night he "disappeared".
I know that because I saw the date on the computer as he was working on it. The rest of the visions though are blocked. Not sure how that's possible, maybe powerful Obfuscate. If that's the case though, it rules out these Neonates as suspects...", she waves her hands at the collective Coterie.
Sheriff balks, "Yeah, cause I trust some lame musician's judgment. Plus you don't even play any good music, just that heavy metal crap!
Sheridan, get yer ass out to this room or I'll come find you and drag yer ass back here!"
---
James can hear the Sheriff roaring at the top of his considerable lungs as the person on the other line responds, "Hmmm. Well I can confirm that Lodin handed that note to the Toreador Primogen as he asked Amelia and I to deliver it to her.
Before this conversation I did not know the contents of the letter but I would say that the depiction is accurate. Why Lodin wanted to see Modius I do not know.
Why Modius sent all of you I do not know, I'd wager that Lodin wanted Modius to show up himself. I can't confirm that but I'd put money on it.
I can confirm that Lodin was due here January 2nd and did not arrive, we have been waiting here for his arrival and were beginning to get nervous which is why I called.
Did you have anything to do with my Master's disappearance?
I was not aware that Mr. Jackson had a Siring sanctioned, are you an illegal Progeny Mr. Sheridan?"
Finn snorts at the notion of her being friends with the sheriff. "Definitely not," she says. Regaining a measure of composure, she says, "Alright, Damien. How can we help then? Any idea who actually was involved in this disappearance?"
BAPTISM OF FIRE - Saturday - January 3, 1993 -
"When they exit with Sheriff, you'll distract him and I'll stake him! That way we can free these poor souls from having to drag him around while they try and clear their names.
I'll take Sheriff and you join with them.
If you need help, or blood, go to this address. A Ghoul who goes by the name the name the Ghoulie Man provides illicit blood in exchange for Vitae".
He provides you with a business card with an address scrawled on the back.
"How did you come by such authority, Sheriff? You say a lot of seemingly baseless, if not outright dumb things. I'm surprised Lodin would allow such a blowhard to possess such clout."
Finn scans the card and slips it in a pocket. This plan sounds risky. Perhaps, dare I say, ludicrous. I AM SO IN!
"Alright. I'd certainly be better at distracting than staking," she says. "So, since I'm agreeing, tell me something. What do YOU get out of this, Damien? Why are these newcomers so special?"
BAPTISM OF FIRE - Saturday - January 3, 1993 -
Sheriff turns to Rick, "The Prince and Primogen do BOY!"
His eyes glow fiery red and his fangs drop as he brings his powers to bear upon you Rick.
"I suggest you all stay here while I retrieve your wayward friend!" He blinks he moves so quickly from the room.
---
James, one minute the Sheriff is not there, the next he is standing next to you, "I'm getting tired of calling you Neonate, hand me the phone. Now".
BAPTISM OF FIRE - Saturday - January 3, 1993 -
He shrugs, "Eh, not sure if they're special but messing with Sheriff makes it worth my while. Plus, I don;t like people being falsely accused of a crime they did not commit".
Victoria watches the Sheriff storm out in a fit of pique.
...methinks the man doth protest too much. He's either desperate to cover up his failure to protect the prince and find a scapegoat to avoid blame, or he did it and is trying to shift blame onto neonates to avoid being discovered.
Call it a hunch.
"Derek, I assure you that I had nothing to do with your Master's disappearance. But I must now hand the phone to the Sheriff, who seems to think otherwise." James does his best to appear nonplussed, before handing the phone, pocket square and all, to the Sheriff.
BAPTISM OF FIRE - Saturday - January 3, 1993 -
Sheriff takes the phone, "Who the hell...! Oh, Derek. What's that. You don't think they... who asked you! Stupid leech".
He hangs up. Then gestures out of the vault leading you back to the Security Room.
Sheriff scowls, "OK, now we'll finish looking at the rest of the place together, in one room. Got it!?
So uh.. find out anything interesting yet?"
When no one speaks up, James says, "It appears that the prince did indeed send a missive to Modius via Annabelle Triabell, but seems likely that the prince requested that Modius present himself rather than us. It may be that someone was trying to set Modius up. Perhaps someone looking to take over Gary or just use Modius as a slightly more believable patsy?"
well Sheriff, we have convincing evidence that we did not do this from parties not connected to us and we have Katie who knows we are innocent as well as this Derek. Too much to ignore. Morgrym says plainly to the sheriff.
BAPTISM OF FIRE - Saturday - January 3, 1993 -
Sheriff shrugs, "There's a few more bedrooms left to look at, as the action all took place here and in the Vault, do you want to waste your time looking over there or just go ahead and head back to Ballard with what you have here?"
Kate huffs exasperated, "How could we only search maybe half the place and say we are done? If you want to run back to your Masters and make a report go ahead and do that, we will finish up here".
Sheriff growls, "Watch yer tone with me little Miss, what are you doing here anyway?"
Kate shrugs, "A friend asked me to step in?"
Sheriff retorts, "Oh yeah, who?!"
Kate pauses for a moment, "A member of the Primogen, I can't say, shall we continue"?
Rick says nothing.
James sweeps a hand in the direction of the bedrooms to signal his agreement with Kate, "By all means, let us continue the investigation."
Dalton can hardly hold back his grin seeing Sheriff put in check, at least for the time being.
"Can we get on with this?" Victoria says, growing more irritated by the minute.
"I'm just waiting for this game to come to its inevitable end."
Finn waits near the door of the building where she should be able to see people coming out.
BAPTISM OF FIRE - Saturday - January 3, 1993 -
Sheriff growls at Kate, "I'll see about that. Let's case the rest of the place then, together".
The rest of the group see the Office and the Vault door within ripped off. File cabinets and shelves have a great deal of paperwork on them. Within the Vault is a computer.
The rest of the Haven is mundane. Bathroom. Kitchen. Bedroom.
Sheriff shakes his head, "Nothing here as far as I am concerned that exonerates ya'll. Time to had out. Where do ya'll want to head to next. Now ya' got a night and a half left ta prove ya didn't do it".
"Honestly, I wanna buy some drinks for some nice ladies and then drink while the BAC is high."
BAPTISM OF FIRE - Saturday - January 3, 1993 -
Dalton notices sitting on a small shelf over the bed is an interesting piece of jewelry, a pendant with a huge tooth hanging at the end.
"That's a weird looking necklace." Dalton comments, pointing out the piece of jewelry to his fellow accused.
BAPTISM OF FIRE - Saturday - January 3, 1993 -
"Sheriff, am I allowed to touch it?" asks Kate condescendingly.
Sheriff turns to her and replies, "That's the Prince's, I've seen him wear it before. We should just leave it.
That's a wrap, let's go back to Ballard and you can report your theories. Then he will decide if any further investigation is warranted.".
While Sherrif faces Kate, Rick mouths to her "yes" while nodding his head.
Victoria finds herself mimicking Rick's head nodding.
Because that's obviously important. If that belongs to the Prince, I wonder how attached he was to it... if it was important to him. And why he left it behind if that's the case.
Morgrym takes one more look around the place seeing if there is anything he missed
James turns to the Sheriff, "Did you by chance see the note next to the chess table? It was in a woman's hand and refered to, apparently, the price as Custos? Do you think it's a veiled warning?"
BAPTISM OF FIRE - Saturday - January 3, 1993 -
Kate touches the tooth and concentrates, "Yep it's the Prince's alright". Sheriff turns to James, at that moment, Kate swiftly sneaks it into her pocket.
"Naw, I didn't see that letter. Custos? Not a name I know of or ever heard of".
Morgrym, if there is something else here, you'd be damned surprised. To you the biggest revelation is Kate's inability to determine anything fro Auspex, whatever or whoever did this is no neonate or even an Anacillae.
Sheriff heads back to the elevator nodding at the Ghoul who gives your group dirty looks.
Through the foyer the police on hand remain quiet though look suspicious at the group more so than even Lodin's ghoul. After all, why should this motley crew be let in to investigate whatever happened here when real police are on the equivalent of mall security duty.
The elevator ride down is quiet. Kate shifts behind Victoria and palms her the Prince's necklace!
As the elevator reaches the ground floor Sheriff turns to you all, "Time to head back. We can hail a series of cabs at the corner".
---
Finn, a large group exits the building, immediately you can tell they are all dead as no frost escapes their mouths, Mortals must just NOT want to see such obvious signs of what "your" kind are.
From behind Damien whispers, "Get them all to come into the alley over here, OK?"
Finn has a pretty good view of the front of the building so when a big group of Kindred files out, it seems almost a little too obvious. Here it is-- go time. Darting through the shadows she moves into position. So, how do you get people to want to head a certain way? Her lips curl into a smile.
Raising her voice, Finn yells, "That's them! The ones looking for the Prince. RUN!!" With unnatural speed, she dashes back towards the alley, fast, but not so fast that they can't see, and presumably, follow.
BAPTISM OF FIRE - Saturday - January 3, 1993 -
A few Mortals on the street look in Finn's direction and are puzzled by what they saw. Luckily, there are not too many due to the freezing temperatures.
Sheriff turns to the rest of you, "Must be a damned Anarch, You all help me here and maybe, I'll express some doubts about yer guilt in this!"
He turns and runs into traffic but at normal speed. Cars jam on their brakes clearing the way for him. All the drivers lower their windows and begin cursing like sailors.
Rick will follow.
Victoria resists the urge to smirk when Kate palms her the necklace.
Thank you kindly.
She starts following the strange person running around at ludicrous speed.
...great. A masquerade breach waiting to happen. Wonderful.
Dalton follows.
"This should be interesting." James quips before following in the Sheriff's wake.
Morgrym follows as well not particularly keen to help but the Sheriff's words of considering their plight a bit more does somewhat preserve self.
"Youre gonna have to make the deal a whole lot sweeter than a 'maybe', Sheriff."
BAPTISM OF FIRE - Saturday - January 3, 1993 -
Sheriff hits the alley and increases his speed once in the shadows and out of the sight of Kine.
You all enter the alley as close as you can, just as he is about to catch up to the figure that appeared from thin air and then ran away, from behind Sheriff leaping out of the garbage is a teenage boy. In his hand is a massive stake.
Attack #2 - Hit for 1/2 Damage +3
Sheriff Soak - FULL SOAK
Attack #3 - Hit for 1/2 Damage +3
Sheriff Soak - FULL SOAK
Attack #4 - MISS
Attack #5 - Hit! +3
Sheriff Soak
Almost, faster than any of you can see the teenager strikes the Sheriff in the back four times each time he appears to miss the mark. Sheriff turns, "Boy you..."
The fifth time though, is a charm. The stake is driven right into Sheriff's heart and he falls onto his side immobile.
The teenager turns to you all, "I am here to rescue you all to rise up and smash the oppressors!"
Rick looks at Sheriff's body with joy. Serves the c!$++!*@#+ right.
"Who sent you, who are the oppressors?" Rick asks, pumping his celerity and standing defensively over Sheriff's body with a foot on the stake to keep it in for now.
"And what have you done with the Prince?"
not helping the sheriff is going to cause us more problems with the primogen. He has power in the city and backers and is holding his job somehow even though he is... Difficult. Morgrym says.
"Something's not up to snuff. Someone did something and erased their participation. I think Sheriff had a part of that and is looking to sell us up the river to cover his own ass."
Finn steps out of the shadows when the Sheriff drops. "Seriously?! He uses his title as a name? Does he refer to himself in the third person, too?" She waves to the others. "Hey folks. Sorry about the ruse. We don't have the Prince and have no idea where he is. I just needed him" (she points to the prone form) "to head this way. BUT if you managed to find any clues, I'll help you look for him. The Prince I mean. Not the musician. God, I WISH that was our mission."
BAPTISM OF FIRE - Saturday - January 3, 1993 -
The teenager grins, "I did nothing with the Prince, I wish I did. The oppressors are the Prince, Primogen, and any Elders who support the corrupt bureaucracy named the Camarilla.
I'm Damien, I know that you are all accused of killing or kidnapping Lodin. Something like that can't stay secret as long as the powers that be would have wanted them to.
Even if you didn't do it, the chaos that will surround the event should be movement enough to get some real change happening in this city.
Don Sebastian was slain by Salvador Garcia nearly a half century ago. Ever since have the Anarch Free states existed. This is our chance, it starts here and now.
You see how the Elders treat Neonates, fodder to be thrown away at the flimsiest of reasons for their own convenience and schemes.
Join us".
Kate clears her throat, "I agree that someone did indeed erase those tapes, whatever power that is, I can assure you, that Sheriff had little to do with it. It must have had something to do with the Tremere and magic, my visions were simply blank or maybe the Nosferatu and some sort of high level Obfuscation I've never heard of. I had no reading at all.
Hey guys. I did my part, I'm stepping away. As far as I am concerned I did not see any of this and I wasn't involved. Got it?
In fact, I will need to report the staking of the Sheriff to my Sire. Damien is a wanted Anarch.
One more thing, so long as you are taking in Sheriff's earshot, he will hear what you say even if he cant talk back right now". She begins backing out of the alleyway.