Let's Play VtM: Night Empire

[laclongquan]

Oi, no meta here.

Sommers only know that there's hunters in the Bish's house. He has reason to suspect they are holing up in there, preparing a trap. He has reason to suspect the Bish on their side so sending in the Kine is counterproductive (since the Bish can at least stall them until the hunters disarm them). He has reason to call Iacomo to let him decide how to deal with the hunters, not to let the Kine force move in prematurely.

By the way, whose juridistiction that house fall to? Because I suspect the landlord/lady will want to send their bullyboys along too.

 

[Gondolin]

Well they're not going to shoot the bloody hostage with it now? Why would they do that.

Battle plans have a habit of not surviving contact with the enemy.

 

[Hellraiser]

Auspex does work that way. But why would you want to shoot the Kindred they've captured is beyond me. He's not in league with them, he's their prisoner. If he's still alive at all, that is.

Odds are that any kindred held captive by huntards would go into a frenzy the second bullets started flying around. He is no doubt hungry as I doubt the huntards have been giving him his nightly vitae in a nice chalice, so if the squad frees him they might be attacked when it attempts to feed upon them. We can't expect the kine not to defend themselves anyway, might as well give the the means to do so.

We want to reduce casualties to a minimum so that the kine don't delve too much into what exactly has happened at the bishop's house after all. If there is a kindred here and we're sending in the squad, they better be prepared for the eventuality. We can cover up the fact they dealt with a vampire, but bodies will be problematic for various reasons.

What are the downsides to killing a kindred prisoner in this situation? Loosing a potential ally? How much of an ally a vampire who let himself get caught could have been. He might be a decent source of intel if there are more huntards left. But that's it if you ask me. We can afford having him meet final death in this situation. But if he's not hostile and can be freed that should be the imperative.

Unless we go in ourselves with Eddie, Iacomo and Vogler as suggested. But we have to remember that huntards are skilled at fighting kindred not kine. Which is why IMO we should send in the regular squad, auspex the shit out of the place before and during their assault and give them orders by dominating their superiors. Less of a risk and less of a mess if something goes wrong.

 

[Esquilax]

Unless we go in ourselves with Eddie, Iacomo and Vogler as suggested. But we have to remember that huntards are skilled at fighting kindred not kine. Which is why IMO we should send in the regular squad, auspex the shit out of the place before and during their assault and give them orders by dominating their superiors. Less of a risk and less of a mess if something goes wrong.

The one issue I see with Storyfag's proposal is that right now it's possible that the Hunters aren't expecting to be attacked. If the Special Branch squad attacks, the Hunters will be caught unawares by an enemy that they aren't really trained for. If we go on-site to supervise the situation along with Iacomo, Eddie and Vogler, it'll give them time to see what they're up against and we'll lose the element of surprise. I wish we had a way to point them towards the Sabbat, but without a viable way to manipulate them, we're going to have to kill them.

I'm sure that the Hunters are prepared for a fight against any intruders, especially vampires, but I don't think that they're going to expect a team of elite kine to storm in at the very next moment.

 

[ironyuri]

E



Look bros, and excuse this font size I don't know what is up with this. I'm in support of Storyfag because: Iacomo, Sommers, Fellowes & Vogler (maybe Cripps) go in? One or two don't come out. These are hunters, not lollipop ladies. Element of surprise, or not, they're trained to fight kindred and they have a fortified position. Remember what Horn said, they have teams on stand-by, the Hunters are not yet alerted. We have the element of surprise. We need to get to the operational HQ, take charge with a claim that Sommers is a high-ranking MI5/6 or counter-terrorism officer, use presence, dominate if necessary. Sommers gets Iacomo to meet him en route and we bring him in as our Commanding Officer, then we run the show. If Fellowes can auspex/scout the mansion, we'll figure out their positions (the position of all kindred and kine inside, unless the hunters can block it somehow). Then, we identify targets and send in the counter-terrorism forces with orders to take them alive, but to shoot to kill if they experience resistance. Once they've made their first sweep, Sommers and Iacomo, as the commanding officers, move in, to clean up any masquerade violations. If need be, the counter-terrorism officers become the next batch of possible security squad ghouls for Sommers. If we'd made an alliance with Bullroarer, but it's unlikely that will ever happen now, we could media spin it- otherwise, we have Horn spin this to the BBC as a thwarted Islamic terror attack in which the Archbishop was captured by extremists demanding that we behead those who insult Islam if all goes well:

There will be race riots in London between, which we then use as cover to clean up the Sabbat.


A plan conceived of pure genius, bros.

 

[Gondolin]

The All-Seeing Eye, the Network Zero hacking abilities that give access to any device from an ATM to a CCTV system.

Shepard's Blessing: The hunter can temporarily escape any notice so long as they pray continuously.

Tactical Co-ordination - An agent can create a mental network with other allies, using their own abilities as a center.

Tag - The agent can use lenses and animals as eyes to follow a target subject

Hall of Mirrors - An agent enters another mental state that allows them to see a quick blast of the future.

Twitcher: A spinal implant that improves the agent's reaction time.

Regenerative Nodule: A werewolf "cyst" that temporarily allows the user a werewolf's fast healing ability

Personal Defense Swarm: A set of "insects" made from supernatural metal and bile that attack any hostile targets when released.

Go ahead and send in the cavalry. What could go wrong?

 

[Random Word]

Go ahead and send in the cavalry. What could go wrong?

Okay, that sounds pretty hax. I assume they can't be using Hall of Mirrors on a regular basis, but Shepard's Blessing has me really concerned. That sort of nonsense has to be stopped - how do we negate that power? Auspex? Is this tactical team on site from the Metropolitan Police or is this some national counterterrorism unit from MI5? If it's just the local SWAT we might want to call in the army, because these kids look like they're playing with some nasty toys. Wistman ought to be better prepared for this kind of thing than most other units but they're too small to take on this many hostiles alone and I don't know if we ever gave them any training for dealing with these kinds of abilities, I think it was all vampire related. The paperwork required to authorize the combat deployment of the SAS on British soil would be hell, but they'll fare a lot better than the Metro.

 

[Cassidy]

Shepard's Blessing: The hunter can temporarily escape any notice so long as they pray continuously.

OLOLOLOL LOOKS LIKE A MASS EFFECT SPECIAL ABILITY POPAMOLE SHIT WITH COOLDOWN. OR MAYBE POPE-AMOLE

*Edit: Society of the Leopold Alpha Protocol Effect



*Edit 2: I missed this one:

Twitcher: A spinal implant that improves the agent's reaction time

: x

 

[Kalin]

The inquisitors are trained chiefly to fight vampires, not fellow human elite forces. As such, the Special Branch would be the ideal weapon to use against them.

If a direct assault without Sommers or Iacomo at the scene is out of the question, then I still think the humans should be sent in first. The ghoul squad could support the assault, they are trainted for "counter-terrorism" after all, and ghouls are by their very nature expendable.

Assuming that all goes well, the Camarilla in London ought to be able to properly cover the whole affair up. The Islamic terrorist story sounds particularly lovely.

 

[Gondolin]

Well, Iacomo said that taking out a group of hunters is a trifling matter for him. I want to see the fucker in action.

 

[SCO]

Hey guys, wouldn't it be hilarious if our camarilla supervisor got himself killed. I for one would think it very funny to watch the likely reaction of the methuselahs.

 

[Gondolin]

If Iacomo wants to get out of this one, no problem. But the decision ought to be his. The old vampires wouldn't want him cowering in a hotel room either.

 

[Kayerts]

Two points about the hunters: first, while the bishop was hostile to the hunters throughout most of the prologue, seeing the hostage vamp spill the details of undead society may have converted him. If so, we can expect him to introduce some awkwardness into an attack operation. He can, of course, be tragically slain during the assault by the awful Islamic militants, but that won't look good for Horn.

Second, the prologue mentioned a second team of hunters sent against the Bishop of Guildford. Assuming the second team is still outside, they might attempt to disrupt our operations, if they know about them.

 

[Random Word]

Two points about the hunters: first, while the bishop was hostile to the hunters throughout most of the prologue, seeing the hostage vamp spill the details of undead society may have converted him. If so, we can expect him to introduce some awkwardness into an attack operation. He can, of course, be tragically slain during the assault by the awful Islamic militants, but that won't look good for Horn.

His houseguests have a large stash of illegal weapons and have erected fortifications in the middle of London - something tells me he won't exactly jump at the chance to publicly throw in his lot with them. A little bit of Domination and he'll happily tell anyone they were all screaming 'Allahu Akbar' if desired. A potential second cell is a problem but we don't have any practical means of acting against them at the moment, best to deal with that if and when it becomes an issue.

 

[ironyuri]

In effect, by making this about Islamic terrorism, Anthony would be assisting the kine government of the day in shoring up public opinion. Not only do we win points in Prince opinion polls, we win points in Prime Ministerial opinion polls.

I think if we play this right, Sommers could become the next Prime Minister.

 

[ironyuri]

There are no rebels hunters in the UK, they are Islamist militants fighting against the sovereign government Camarilla.

 

[Cassidy]

Sommers could become the next Prime Minister.

Better to put a ghoul in instead. Too much spotlight for someone wanting to not turn chavs and whatever the British got for rednecks into an army of vampire hunters and end beheaded by a sheriff before witnessing the extinction of the damned, otherwise. Speaking of it, if the Sabbat were smarter they'd try that to get access to WMDs and subjugate mankind by provoking ITZ and then raising an empire not so different from the one Kain did in Blood Omen the minority of human survivors would have no chances against.

 

[Running Fox]

That was a sweet update.
But I think grotsnik needs to flex his action muscles a bit. And the writing needs a bit more of... tactile portrayals (like, "his knife slid softly through her skin, creating a sort of tiny "wave" "...).
Its all impersonal and strategic, inward reflective like "pretends to be intently polishing his spectacles". Tony needs to utilize all his senses, well, the readers do...

B) Have your ghoul squad take out the hunters instead.

Finished reading the Haunting of Hill House. Wasted 5 fucking hours. At least Eleanor died. Made me happy.
Never read anything grotsnik suggests.

The Garbos/Mods are fucking morons. I posted custom art here twice and they delete it... It may not be the bestest evar but by God I've seen helluva lot "pros" do worse.

 

[Esquilax]

Speaking of it, if the Sabbat were smarter they'd try that to get access to WMDs and subjugate mankind by provoking ITZ and then raising an empire not so different from the one Kain did in Blood Omen the minority of human survivors would have no chances against.

That actually sounds like an awesome idea for a plotline.

 

[Running Fox]

Funny story:
Clicked on root's new CYOA. Esquilax got told to fuck off on the very first page. I lol'ed. Reneged is a little bitch.

 

[Excidium]

Going with D).

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

E. We want to be proactive and get control of this situation before Horn loses his team or the media gets wind, but we also want Iacomo to be the one in charge so we are less likely to get blamed if things go tits up.

Plus the Camarilla strikes me as the type of organization that doesn't foster independent action without permission/authority so sending in anyone to do anything might wind us up in trouble. After all, what if Turkov already told Iacomo where they are and they were planning to wait and watch the hunters? Wouldn't it be better to be the one saying "Great news: I stopped the kine before they made a mess of the situation." vs "I just killed a bunch of people without your permission - aren't you happy?"?

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

E inform Archon Iacomo as is our duty. Then proceed to the Bishop's palace to take personal charge of the operation until our lord Archon arrives. Presence and Dominate should turn the surveilance team and the assault team into loyal minions, ready and willing to let the Archon do as he pleases.

 

[Running Fox]

"verily i say unto thee, thou shalt not tarry the fucking update!" he ejaculated in a frightened whisper!

a kalin
b fox
b capenvara
c gondo
c lac
c kzero
e storyfag
e esqui
e randword
e oscar
e smashaxe
e cassidy
e hellrzr
e irony
e lamb
e root
d excidi
x kayerts

 

[Running Fox]