Let's Play VtM: Wild Nights - Chapter 10

[ironyuri]

Your ball is too small, is what.

That was a very Prosper post, Lac.

 

[laclongquan]

Aye. Did it just during reading one of thread.

 

[golgepapaz]

well, after endless discussions and lobbying and attempts at election frauds, we opted for a insecure bookworm with daddy issues who asks for a permission to go out at night. That's how extreme the codex are .

IT'S C before this degenerates into a harlequin novel and grotsnik begins to describe what Joan wears for the day half a page.

 

[grotsnik]

So I thought I'd experiment with doing occasional mini-choice interludes for Sommers, just so people can keep track of what he's up to. Lemme know if you think it's too distracting/too many choices to bother with.


*


Sommers pushes open the window of his new, glass-walled office.

The air is as stifling outside as in. You can feel it, radiating from every surface, like the poisonous smogs of the Sixties and, he imagines, the thick brown mists of the Victorian city.

“They went from room to room,” Fellowes says. “Butchered the staff, Embraced every guest they could find on the first two floors, and turned them loose out onto the street before we could get there. Wyther and the rest of the boys are still mopping them up, but it’s a hell of a mess down there. They won’t be able to catch them all before dawn.”

Sommers gazes down, over the silent street.

“Why do this?” he asks. “Why now?”

Fellowes leans back in his chair, picking fussily at his waistcoat.

“They want to provoke us,” he says. “They know they can’t attack the Camarilla directly, not in summertime and when they’re in such disarray. So they’re going to keep needling - little bursts of chaos, trying to break the Masquerade, forcing us to waste our time and resources dealing with them. That’s why they chose the Ritz. If a Londoner disappears in the darkness, we can make the problem go away. If tourists disappear, and rich tourists too? Well, then, we’re in danger of media coverage and an international incident.”

“Fucking hell,” Sommers mutters, running a hand through his hair.

He slumps down at the desk.

His eyes light upon the sheet of paper at the top of his ever-growing pile of memos, invoices, receipts, suggestions, requests, demands and pleas.

H.T. to A.S.

Proposal: Operation Wistman. Highest Clearance Only

Regarding the formation of a small-sized unit designed to help the efforts of A.S. and affiliated institutions in London to neutralise the domestic terrorist organisation known as ‘The Sabbat’ and protect civilians from the malign influence of said organisation. Select operatives to be chosen from the SAS, SIS, SS, DI and ‘Dusklight’ by H.T. and A.S.; must have proven themselves in combat, infiltration and keeping their bloody mouths shut. Specialist training in disabling enemy combatants to be supervised by A.S. and other ‘native’ experts. Operatives will travel in unmarked police vans and pose as Special Branch officers as required.

Other thoughts and possible specifications: operatives without family or relatives? The unit to work exclusively during daylight hours in conjunction with your night-time efforts?

Let me know what you think, Anthony.

He lifts the paper, turning over its implications and possibilities, and smiles.


A) Suggest the idea to the Barons’ Council, offering the unit as a force in the control of the Camarilla.

B) Encourage the Home Secretary to go ahead with this idea, working on the unit as a force under your control.

C) Dissuade the Home Secretary from going ahead with this idea.

 

[Undead Phoenix]

B. Hell yeah!

 

[golgepapaz]

B .No questions...

 

[Esquilax]

Awesome, grot! It's definitely nice to periodically check in on Tony.

B) Tell Antonia to pack her shit up and leave. We've found some ghouls who are actually useful for a change.

 

[SCO]

b) ghoulize them - but do with with mixed blood from vampires loyal to you (you haven't enough blood yourself to satisfy them all, so you'd likely end up ripped appart).

A experiment.

 

[Erebus]

B) The Barons won't be happy if they find out about it, but it's worth the risk.

 

[Gondolin]

On Joan's choice I vote to lie. Go for the "woman's touch". Say that you threw a rock in the river out of anger because Eames wants you to take over Argyll's work. Turn the tables on him and accuse him of being lazy and the source of your problems. Show some nerdy temper. Yell. Stamp your foot if you have to. :D

On Sommers' choice, it's definitely a B.

 

[Crooked Bee]

C + B. But of course.

 

[laclongquan]

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB Fuck yeah. It's time to get more muscles.

The barons wont be happy: fuck them. This unit works through Humphrey and Kine organizations, therefore they are in our sphere of responsibility. If they want to put their grubby paws on this unit they damn well pony up another force to compensate for Sommers or get the fuck out.

The risks are pretty damn high to blow the Masquerade if we choose personels carelessly. so requirements for selection must be tight: minimal tie, a slight weakness to suggestions so Sommers could put some slight hypnotic suggestions into their psyche, stuffs like that, etc an d etc... In this matter we should rather be undermanned than choose wrongly. A very small, very elite squad works better than big group.

 

[Excidium]

So I thought I'd experiment with doing occasional mini-choice interludes for Sommers, just so people can keep track of what he's up to. Lemme know if you think it's too distracting/too many choices to bother with.

Too many choices? Never.

Anyway, jumping on the B)andwagon.

 

[Kashmir Slippers]

B

I like the idea of updates for Sommers. I don't mind if they break hot Joan action.

 

[Breaking Axe]

B for Sommers, also agree with the ghoulification idea.

 

[Kz3r0]

So I thought I'd experiment with doing occasional mini-choice interludes for Sommers, just so people can keep track of what he's up to. Lemme know if you think it's too distracting/too many choices to bother with.

B for Sommers, also agree with the ghoulification idea.

 

[Rod Rodderson]

It's... unanimous. Not much point in repeating the sentiment, but I'll add my own B just for good measure.

 

[Storyfag]

So I thought I'd experiment with doing occasional mini-choice interludes for Sommers, just so people can keep track of what he's up to. Lemme know if you think it's too distracting/too many choices to bother with.

B for Sommers, also agree with the ghoulification idea.

do with with mixed blood from vampires loyal to you (you haven't enough blood yourself to satisfy them all, so you'd likely end up ripped appart).

Silence, mongrel! Listen to someone vho vill teach you things about ghoulification you have never imagined! Listen to someone vho bred hereditary ghouls!

Ahem, sorry for that one. It's my Tzimisce persona taking over... But that nasty Sabbat Bishop speaking through me is right, you know. Bloodlines tells us a ghoul needs a "monthly fix" of vitae to be loyal. This special unit can't be any larger a platoon. That's 40-42 people tops. We can easily manage to feed as much, but must increase our own consumption of blood from the Kine. Now, this might be problematic, given our feeding limitations... but I believe the unit will be actually much smaller than a platoon.

Now, keep in mind that keeping them loyal is not the same thing as keeping them in top fighting condition. Each ghoul can hold up to 5 litres of vitae which it then can use to boost its strength and trigger the terrible and blasphemous power of health regen. This means we'll have to make a large initial investment of vitae and replenish used up vitae after battles, but if Tzimisce can manage it with *their* hosts of ghouls (not counting the hereditary Revenants who produce their own vitae, of course), so can we!

 

[Rod Rodderson]

. . . but if Tzimisce can manage it with *their* hosts of ghouls (not counting the hereditary Revenants who produce their own vitae, of course), so can we!

I imagine that there's a tiny little difference between a Tzimisce who might not even be following Humanity (or it's otherwise low enough), allowing them to easily extract the full 10 blood points from a person, and our little Ventrue who not only can't take more than 3 safely, but can only feed on a specific group of people (who might be rather difficult to come across).

Not to mention that excessive blood consumption can be a potential Masquerade issue. "What's that? A string of blonde twentysomethings with histories of child abuse are ending up anemic? Nah, just a coincidence."

 

[Breaking Axe]

Come to that, it would be helpful (Possibly not right at this moment) to know Tony's blood preference. We've seen him drink blood confidently when offered it by Eames, either his preferences are well known, he doesn't have a very discriminating palette, or he drank vampire blood, I don't think Ventrue can drink anything other than a particular type of kine, kindred is fine, but for the troubles with diablerie, the blood bond, and addiction. I vaguely recall that he drank from an aging duke. Does that mean he goes after the aristocracy, or seventy year olds? (Which would fit in with his fear of death, kinda)

 

[grotsnik]

He can only drink blood from the fearful; hence he tends to have it brought in from the elderly and OAP homes - those close enough to death to be frightened of it.

 

[SCO]

. . . but if Tzimisce can manage it with *their* hosts of ghouls (not counting the hereditary Revenants who produce their own vitae, of course), so can we!

Tzimisce change their bodies at will and don't follow humanity.

And don't they depend on revenants anyway? Those produce their own vitae like dhampirs.

 

[Esquilax]

Ahem, sorry for that one. It's my Tzimisce persona taking over... But that nasty Sabbat Bishop speaking through me is right, you know. Bloodlines tells us a ghoul needs a "monthly fix" of vitae to be loyal. This special unit can't be any larger a platoon. That's 40-42 people tops. We can easily manage to feed as much, but must increase our own consumption of blood from the Kine. Now, this might be problematic, given our feeding limitations... but I believe the unit will be actually much smaller than a platoon.

Now, keep in mind that keeping them loyal is not the same thing as keeping them in top fighting condition. Each ghoul can hold up to 5 litres of vitae which it then can use to boost its strength and trigger the terrible and blasphemous power of health regen. This means we'll have to make a large initial investment of vitae and replenish used up vitae after battles, but if Tzimisce can manage it with *their* hosts of ghouls (not counting the hereditary Revenants who produce their own vitae, of course), so can we!

It's probably an elite 4-man squad a la SWAT 3. The problem here is that we need to provide enough vitae not only to ghoul them, but also enough to regenerate any wounds they sustain or power Disciplines they might use in combat. And we need to do enough vitae to do so while keeping the Masquerade and our Humanity intact, as Rod mentioned. Working in Anthony's favour is that he's become quite wealthy and powerful, so he'll be able to discretely acquire more blood that suits his palette. Our team can also easily take the blood of any Kindred that they happen to kill while on the job. Spoils of war, if you will. Any way you slice it, it will make the squad easier to support.

I'm against any crazy blood-mixing experiments or anything like that. Assuming it's a four-man team and we can't ghoul them all without feeling malnourished, I say we let Eddie ghoul two of them since he's a bro. Our guys will have Fortitude, while Eddie's will have Celerity to handle themselves in combat. Keeping these guys in control will be a piece of cake with Dominate.

If we're on good terms with the Nosferatu after our expedition to the Warrens, would be cool to have them scout out areas that we plan on raiding beforehand. They provide intel on ghoul guards, layout, traps etc., while our boys launch an assault at daybreak. However, if we're going to keep this team secret, we may as well use them to off someone in the Camarilla. Maybe the Sheriff, Gordon Wyther? It would certainly be very tough (maybe impossible), but we could blame the act on Hunters and it would be worth it just so we could have Turcov and Eames begging us to find Erika now that they've got no Sheriff.

But hey, this is all beyond the scope of the choice and I'm getting way ahead of myself with wacky scheming again already. I can't help it, it's too goddamn fun!

He can only drink blood from the fearful; hence he tends to have it brought in from the elderly and OAP homes - those close enough to death to be frightened of it.

Ah, that makes sense. Heh, maybe Tony should look into having some blood brought in from local prisons if that's the case. I always wondered why Tony was able to feed on the bums Bob Griddle had squatting around Blackfriars - turns out, it's because they were scared shitless of Bob.

 

[Excidium]

He can only drink blood from the fearful; hence he tends to have it brought in from the elderly and OAP homes - those close enough to death to be frightened of it.

But elderly people in retirement houses aren't afraid of death, in fact they're pretty conformed with it. :/

Would death be worse than having to take a bunch of different drugs, wearing diapers and sit all day watching TV while your family pretend they care about you? Maybe if Tony needed blood of sad or hopeless people it would make sense...

 

[laclongquan]

4 man squad as an active unit but another 4 as support. All in all should not be over 10, or it would be damn hard to control in regard to Masquerades.

And Eddie is definitely coming in, for many reasons, biggest of all is that he need to coordinate both vampire hit squad with human squad.