Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.live-action,alt.games.whitewolf
Path: bga.com!news.sprintlink.net!sunserver.insinc.net!cato.Direct.CA!vanbc.wimsey.com!scipio.cyberstore.ca!math.ohio-state.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!spool.mu.edu!sgiblab!cs.uoregon.edu!news.uoregon.edu!gaia.ucs.orst.edu!sequent!muncher.sequent.com!moo
From: m...@sequent.com (Frank Branham)
Subject: Halloween Present
Message-ID: <1994Oct9.144015.24190@sequent.com>
Sender: use...@sequent.com (usenet )
Nntp-Posting-Host: sequent.sequent.com
Organization: Sequent Computer Systems, Inc.
Date: Sun, 9 Oct 94 14:40:15 GMT
Lines: 1124
Xref: bga.com rec.games.frp.live-action:2918 alt.games.whitewolf:9666

Just in the spirit of the holiday (who needs Christmas anyway?), below is the
text of an early playtest story created for The Masquerade. As best I can tell,
it will never be sold to anyone, so I've decided to drop in into the public 
domain.

Various Trademarks in the text are Trademarks of White Wolf. It is hard to 
tell which ones they have anymore. The text has been unaltered since the 
December before The Masquerade came out, so some things may be a little 
unusual (like references to The Immortal Coil-which was one of the working 
titles.)

I reckon the article should stand for itself. Have fun, and watch for more 
stake and burn fun in the Halloween White Wolf issue.

Moo
Frank

____________________________________________________________________________

Fire at Midnight:

Fire at Midnight is a story of intrigue, deceit, and murder set in the Gothic
Punk world of Vampire the Masquerade. To play the game you will need one or
two people to prepare the scene, and 10-12 people to take on the roles of
Kindred. The story takes place in real-time, and lasts three hours.

Dramatis Personae:

Kapp: A Brujah gunrunner who owns the warehouse in which the game is set. He has

been staked, doused in lighter fluid, and burned to death.

Leland: An Archon of the Ventrue Justicar who is stationed in Atlanta. Leland
has been sent by the Prince to investigate Kapp's murder.

Jacob: A Gangrel working for the Gangrel Prince of Atlanta.

Steele: Another Gangrel working for the Prince. Steele has only been with the
Prince for a few months.

Rimer: A Brujah Anarch.

Woodruff: A Ventrue Ancilla of the Old South variety.

Selina: A Toreador alchoholic, who has an unusual talent for stealing and
fencing important objects.

Royce: A Brujah who happens to be Kapp's Childe.

Hawkins: The Nosferatu who discovered Kapp's body.

Krista: A Toreador who is a highly-trained biologist. She is also absent-minded
to a fault.

Grigori: A Tremere Ancilla and Terry's direct superior.

Terry: A Tremere Neonate.

Standish: A Malkavian who suffers from delusions of being a Great White Hunter
in Borneo.

If you do not have The Immortal Coil:

 This story was designed for White Wolf's The Masquerade live interaction game.
If you do not have this product, you can still play Fire at Midnight by using
the following rules. Each of the Kindred has a power listed below which he can
use during the game. Note that the following rules are very primitive, but
they will suffice as most of the game concerns social interaction between the
players.

If you use this system, make up  a set of cards with the listed powers and give
one to each player.

Combat: If two Kindred wish to fight, have them play a game of rock, paper,
scissors. The loser is wounded and may take no action for 10 minutes. If one
player has a gun and the other does not, then the player with the gun will win
any ties.

Leland: Psychometry. Leland may use this power to investigate the murder scene.
What he finds out while using this power on a particular item is described for
you in the notes on running the game. He will get an image of the item's
recent history.

Steele: Potence. Steele's incredible strength allows him to defeat any other
Kindred present in melee combat. All he has to do is state that he is
attacking another Kindred. That Kindred will then be wounded and unable to
take any action for 10 minutes. Note that if another Kindred uses a gun, then
a  normal game of rock, scissors, paper will be played.

Jacob: Protean. Jacob may escape from the game at any time, and may return when
he sees fit to come back.

Rimer: Willpower. No other Kindred's special power may be used against Rimer.

Woodruff: Dominate.  Twice during the game, Woodruff may ask one other Kindred
to perform a non-lethal action for him.

Selina: Auspex. Three times during the game, Selina may ask any Kindred a
yes/no question which that player MUST answer truthfully.

Royce: Fortitude. Royce only sits out for 2 minutes when he is defeated in
combat.

Hawkins: Obfuscate. Three times during the game for 5 minutes each time, Hawkins

may hold his fist up to indicate that he has vanished. He may wander about the
room  and listen to all conversations for that period of time.

Krista: Presence. Krista may approach a group of people and make them pay
attention to her to the exclusion of all else for 5 minutes. She must keep
talking about some topic for the duration of Presence.

Grigori: Blood Sense. Grigori may identify any blood given to him as to its
owner.

Terry: Start the game armed with a gun.

Standish: Curse of Sutekh. Three times during the game, Standish may name an
emotion to another player which that player must play for 5 minutes.

Plot Summary:

Fire at Midnight takes place in a warehouse where a Kindred has been staked
and burned only a few hours before the story begins. The victim, Kapp, was
involved in collecting and selling vampire blood to the Atlanta Center for
Disease Control (CDC). His accomplices are Jacob (a Gangrel who is an
underling of the Prince), Royce (Kapp's Childe, a powerful Brujah), and Krista
(a Toreador student who has been trying to research vampirism). Royce decided
that the operation was too dangerous as it broke the Masquerade. He told his
Tremere friend, Terry, about the operation. Terry told her direct superior
Grigori about the chance to acquire a lot of blood, so the Tremere planned to
substitute their buyers for the men from the CDC.

Earlier this evening, things turned really bad. Kapp found out that  Royce was
trying to sell blood to the Tremere and was furious. The two fought for a bit,
and Royce staked Kapp to the warehouse floor. Terry arrived shortly
thereafter to try and negotiate with Kapp, and decided to burn Kapp's staked
body to remove any resistance to the blood being routed to the Tremere.

Hawkins found the burned body, unfortunately mixing his hand in the ashes. He
immediately reported the murder to the Prince, who sent the Archon Leland and
two of his underlings to investigate. The underlings (Jacob and Steele) have
orders to round up any Kindred they find in the  vicinity of the warehouse and
take them to the warehouse for questioning. The Prince has promised to declare
a Blood Hunt on any Kindred who leaves the warehouse before 5:00 AM. Leland
arrives at 2:00 AM with Hawkins. She has only three hours to find the murderer
before the Kindred must return to their havens for sunrise.

Timetable of events:

7:00 PM.     Rimer finds out from Terry that she has a vial of Woodruff's blood.


8:15 PM.  Kapp, Woodruff, and Krista meet to discuss the return of Woodruff's
blood. Woodruff flies into a fury when he finds out that the blood has been
stolen and leaves, swearing revenge.

8:45 PM.  Selina manages to break into the secret vault of the Tremere
chapterhouse and make off with a vial of Grigori's blood.

9:15 PM.  Grigori discovers the break in. He sends Terry down to the warehouse
to clean up the situation.

9:30 PM.  Selina delivers Grigori's blood to Kapp and is paid. Kapp hides the
blood in the warehouse.

9:45 PM.  Selina meets Standish upon leaving the warehouse, and they go off to
drink from a few mortals. Selina eventually tells Standish where she got the
money.

10:45 PM. Rimer perches on the roof of a neighboring warehouse, waiting for a
chance to break into the warehouse again.

11:00 PM Jacob arrives early for a meeting which Kapp called to discuss what
to do about the Tremere trying to receive blood. Kapp tells Jacob about the
Tremere, and tells Jacob about the theft of the vial of Grigori's blood.
Jacob leaves to appear at the Prince's court.

11:30 PM. Royce arrives and begins to argue with Kapp about selling blood to
the Tremere. Rimer decides that tonight is a bad night to break in and so
leaves. Royce stakes Kapp in a fury and leaves him.

12:00 PM. Terry appears and finds Kapp staked to the floor. She douses Kapp in
lighter fluid and sets him on fire. As she leaves, she drops her amulet (which
is found by Standish) and then heads home to take a quick shower.

12:15 PM. Krista finds the body, panics and runs. She is found by the Prince's
men.

12:20 PM.Hawkins sees Krista running away and goes to investigate. In the dark
he reaches out and touches the ashes before he figures out what they are.
Hawkins then heads to tell the Prince of the murder.

1:00 PM. The Prince sends for the Archon to investigate. Jacob and Steele are
sent to round up people and escort them to the warehouse.

2:00 PM. THE STORY BEGINS. Leland arrives with Hawkins to investigate the
warehouse. Other Kindred begin to arrive shortly after, escorted by Jacob and
Steele.

3:30 PM. Two mortal street gang members arrive to pick up a case of guns.
One of them finds a bottle of lighter fluid outside, which he is brandishing
as he walks in. It is the one which Terry dropped outside the warehouse.

4:30 PM. Two men from the CDC arrive to pick up 2 more vials of blood.

5:00 PM. THE STORY ENDS. All of the Kindred are free to go except those who the
Archon finds guilty.

Preparing to run the Game:

Make sure that you know the plot cold. Read through all of the character
descriptions. You will also need to give a copy of each of the character
descriptions to each player who plays. If you have less than 12 players, the
characters of Steele and Selina can be removed from the game without affecting
the plot seriously.

You will also need to prepare a few props:

A box of guns: Use index cards with GUN written on them to represent the guns.
Place these in a box filled with styrofoam peanuts or some sort of packing
material. Place the vial containing Rimer's blood in the bottom of this box.
Leave this box out in the open near where Kapp's body is to be found.

3 Vials of blood: Find a medicine bottle and fill it with red fluid. Leave 1
unmarked (this is Woodruff's blood and should be given to Rimer), one should
have Rimer's name on it (and should be hidden in the crate of guns), and the
third should be hidden in an open place in the room where the game is to be
played. (This should be marked with Grigori's name.)

A fancy amulet of some type in the shape of a hand. Likely you will need to
take an index card, and draw an ornate amulet on it. Give it to Standish at
the beginning of the game.

A letter from the Prince of London, naming Selina as the target of a Blood
Hunt. This letter should be given to Hawkins.

Dear Roderick,
 This letter is to officially acknowledge that a Blood Hunt was declared on the
 Kindred known as Krista Davies. I, as Prince of London, have called this Blood
Hunt,  and would of course appreciate any assistance the Kindred of Atlanta can
provide in  returning her to London. She is a very dangerous Kindred, as she is
a known accomplice of a local group  of hunters. She and her mortal companions
tracked down and killed one of her Kindred.
                                                  Beware,

                                               Prince Malcolm Bloodworth

 A letter from a high-level Ventrue to Grigori, naming Woodruff and Grigori.
Give this to Terry.

Grigori
Your plan sounds fairly workable. I'll have my man Woodruff acquire some of the
Prince's blood, and I'm sure that your sorcerers will do the rest. Should there
be any  problem, you can reach me through Woodruff.

                                                    A.

An sealed bottle of lighter fluid, or a representation. This will be brought
into the game by the street gang members.

A notepad of paper. Write assorted notes with phone numbers and dates. On the
last page, write the location of Grigori's vial of blood. The note should be
written as if Kapp were writing a note to himself to remind him where the vial
is hidden.

And to really dress the story up, use your imagination. Make a chalk drawing of
a body to indicate where Kapp's ashes lie. You can also dig up some play
money to give to your players so that they have something with which to
bargain. Remember that the warehouse served as Kapp's office so he should
probably have a desk of some sort. Lay out a set of papers, and perhaps a desk
calendar with notes scribbled all over it. You may wish to include a few
references to Kapp's gun trade, or even a few references to the Blood trade.
During the first playtest, a layout of Tarot cards on the desk distracted the
Archon for a good 20 minutes.

Have fun creating as many red herrings as you can add to the mystery.

How to run the game:

Try to have Leland, Hawkins, Steele, and Jacob arrive slightly earlier than
the rest of the players. Have everyone create their characters in some place
away from the main area. When Leland and Hawkins have finished, lead them into
the "warehouse" to begin the investigation. Tell Jacob and Steele to escort
the other players one by one into the warehouse as they finish their
characters. Tell them to be as rude and obnoxious as possible because the
Prince is pretty angry about the murder.

You can then pretty much sit back and wait until the players come to you with
questions. The most important and pressing concern is that Leland will begin
to use Psychometry on everything. Here is a list of what he will find as he
touches certain objects in the room:

Kapp's body: He will be suddenly wrenched into the body of a panicking Kindred
(Hawkins) whose hand is immersed in the ashes. Touching the stake will reveal
the same image.

Lighter Fluid: Leland will be standing over a staked Kapp, seeing the lighter
fluid being poured over Kapp. Leland then hears a voice speak, "Such a waste
of blood, but you are safe from our rituals now." The vision then dissolves in
a mass of blue flame.

The Amulet: The Leland see a Kindred walking down an alley, and smells a faint
smell of lighter fluid on himself. He missteps, and the Amulet falls to the
ground.

For other items, make up a simple vision from the point of view of the last
person to have touched that object. Likely this will be Kapp.

You will also need to assume the role of a few protagonists during the game.
Halfway through the adventure, two street gang members will appear to purchase
guns from Kapp. Wrap a bandanna around your head and walk into the game area,
waving the can of lighter fluid. The street gang member has no idea about
Kindred, and will probably freak at the first breach of the Masquerade.

Thirty minutes before the game is to end, find a long coat and walk back in to
the warehouse. Hesistantly ask for Kapp, and leave as soon as someone tells you
that he is not around. This person is from the CDC, and has started to piece
together a fair amount of information about vampires, so he will be very
cautious. The CDC hunter also has a passing interest in the occult and has met
Terry at the warehouse before. When he meets Terry, he will ask where Terry
got the amulet, as he has been looking for such an amulet.

After 3 hours have passed, require the Archon to make any accusations that he
wishes to make.  Once the fireworks and escape have been settled, you will be
done.

Player Handouts

Name: Leland (the Archon)
Clan: Ventrue
Disciplines: Psychometry, Heightened Senses, Aura Perception,  Obfuscate, and
Celerity.

Note: Since you are a bit older, create your character with 12, 10, 8 points
instead of the usual 7,5,3.

You got sent to this Caine-forsaken waste in the New World by your Justicar. You
doctored a little information during the trial of a Gangrel so that he was
found guilty and Blood Hunted. Unfortunately your Justicar found out that you
had created the evidence, and so now asks you to investigate crimes against
the Masquerade in a place RUN by the damned Gangrel. Oh joy. You are sure
that your Justicar knew this and sent  you to Atlanta JUST because you hate
the Gangrel, the Gypsies, and the whole lot. And now you have to work for
them.

What you have been up to:
At 1:15, the Prince sent for you to investigate a Kindred murder which occurred
sometime this evening. He ordered you to go to the warehouse while the
Prince's men round up anyone in the vicinity and escort them to the warehouse
so you can question them. You will be the first to arrive at the warehouse, and
so will have a chance to look over the scene before the others start arriving.
As the others arrive, you and your assistants should take them off separately
and question them as to what they have been up to this evening. You have
permission of the Prince to Blood Hunt anyone who leaves the warehouse before
5:00 AM.

As you arrive at the warehouse at 2:00 AM, you have only 3 hours before the
evidence will start to get away.

Who you know:

Jacob - This person has been your assistant in many situations. Feel free to
order him to do whatever you need done.  He will help you keep peace for this
investigation. He is a Gangrel, but you have to be nice to him because he is
one of the Prince's men. Besides, you aren't very sure quite how old he is,
but he may even be more powerful than yourself.

Steele - This Kindred has only been with you for a few weeks in the City. He is
not as trustworthy as Jacob, but will be your assistant in the investigation.
This Kindred is another Gangrel---but you don't have to be as nice to him as
Jacob.

Selina - This individual has been trying to get into your good graces for some
time. She seems to know something about Steele that you do not.

Grigori - This is an Ancilla of clan Tremere. His presence here likely means
that there is  a strong Tremere interest here. Not a good sign at all.

Hawkins - This is the person whom the Prince has told you reported the murder.
He is likely the best place to start the investigation.

Name: Steele
Clan: Gangrel
Disciplines: Claws, Fortitude, Meld with Earth
(Create a normal neonate character of that Clan)

You are one of the Gangrel who help the Prince keep peace in the city. You have
only been working for the Prince for a few months, however. Before working for
the Prince, you hung out with the Anarchs, and rebelled quite a bit. The Prince
would be really distressed to find out that you were the one who set fire to the


old Columbia Theatre. (The Nosferatu elder is seriously in league with the
Prince, and you found out  that one of the Nosferatu's favored havens was
located upstairs there.)

You are starting to regret having to put up with working for the Elders. It is
not very much fun, really. So you've been testing the waters a bit by
occasionally telling one  of your superiors to shove it when he asks you to do
something you don't like. Worst  that could happen is that you'd be back on the
streets having fun.

What you have been up to:

At 1:15, the Prince sent for you to assist the investigation of a Kindred
murder which occurred sometime this evening. He ordered round up anyone in the
vicinity and escort them to the warehouse so the Archon can question them.
As the others arrive, you and the Archon should take them off separately and
question them as to what they have been up to this evening. You have
permission of the Prince to Blood Hunt anyone who leaves the warehouse before
5:00 AM. As you arrive at the warehouse at 2:00 AM, you have only 3 hours
before the evidence will start to get away.

Who you know:

Leland: He is the leader in this investigation. As you have only been around him
a few  weeks, follow his orders to the letter. You've heard some rumors that
he did something  really nasty to another Gangrel over in Europe. Unless you
are really brave, however, don't mention it to his face.

Jacob: He is another assistant to the Prince. He has been around the Archon much
longer than you, but there is something which you do not trust about him. He
is also quite old, so you need to be very careful around him.

Selina: This little pond scum has been trying to convince the Archon that you
are unfit  for the job, so she can get it herself. Hanging is too good for
her.

Pigeon: This Kindred seems to be very adept at getting himself into situation
over his head.  The two of you know each other from your Anarch days, and
were fairly good friends.

Name: Jacob Fyfe
Clan: Gangrel
Disciplines: Red Eyes, Dominate,  and Potence
Create a normal Neonate, but choose 7 Physical Traits. 5 and 3 may be split
among Mental and Social as usual.

You were sired in the deep Appalachian mountains, where a few Gangrel roam in a
place fairly far from most men. The Garou in the area were actually friendly
to your clan, until the strip mining started in the hills of Eastern Kentucky.
Then they started to refer to members of your Clan as agents of the Wyrm and
hunted you down. You came to Atlanta where everyone began to treat you with a
fair amount of respect.

It seems that everyone around here thinks that you are a very old Kindred even
though you were sired barely 40 years ago. Up in the hills, your folk speak a
form of English that hasn't changed terribly much since Elizabeth I ruled
England.


So everyone treats you with great deal of respect because you use the language
of Shakespeare's day. So far, no one has caught on to how old you really are,
and you would prefer that it stayed that way.

What you have been up to:

Aside from your assisting the Archon, you have been up to an incredibly
lucrative business involving selling Kindred blood to a group of investigators
at the CDC. Your three partners in this crime against the Masquerade are Kapp,
Krista, and Royce. While  the business seem dangerous, the CDC people have no
idea that Kindred exist. They  are researching rare blood types and seem
willing to pay a lot of money. The four of you have netted over $2 million so
far. The warehouse owned by Kapp, because of his  'legitimate' trade in guns,
provided a perfect cover.

Tonight, however, things started turning bad. Tonight, the 4 of you were to
meet at 11:30 to discuss the latest payments for blood from some older
Kindred. You arrived at 11:00 to find Kapp in a panicked state. He told you
that he learned that some Tremere were trying to take over the operation
secretly. That means that they would gain serious control over all of the
Kindred whose blood you have collected. Kapp took the precaution of procuring a
vial of blood of Grigori, the Tremere who was trying to take over the
operation. He hid it in the warehouse and said he was going to call off the
meeting and start moving the operation from the warehouse to a safer place.
You left, worried, about 11:30.

You suspect that Royce and Krista are both trying to back out of your
operation. You bet also that one of them sold the information to the Tremere.
You probably need to  slap them both of them before they decide to tell
someone else like the Archon. That would be bad news indeed.

At 1:15, the Prince sent you to investigate a Kindred murder which occurred
sometime this evening. He ordered you to round up anyone in the vicinity and
escort them to the warehouse so the Archon can question them.

As the others arrive, you and the Archon should take them off separately and
question them as to what they have been up to this evening. You have
permission of the Prince to Blood Hunt anyone who leaves the warehouse before
5:00 AM. As you arrive at the warehouse at 2:00 AM, you have only 3 hours
before the evidence will start to get away.

By the way, you have another problem. At 4:30, there are two guys from the CDC
who are going to be appearing at the warehouse to pick up a few more vials of
blood. Try to make sure that the case is resolved by then, or you are going to
be in serious trouble.

Who you know:

Leland: The Kindred who is in charge of the murder investigation. You have been
working with him for a couple of years. In spite of your friendship, you know
he would Blood Hunt you in a minute if he suspected what was up.

Steele: A new assistant of the Prince. He will be the first to suspect you.

Selina: You know this person fairly well in both of your lives. First, she has
been hanging  around the Archon lately. And Kapp told you that it was Selina
who somehow  got the vial of Grigori's blood from the Tremere chapter house.

Krista: A woman who took very little money from the operation. You were always
very suspicious of her motives.

Royce: Your best companion in the CDC operation. Somewhat short of temper, but
dependable in a pinch. You saw his face on a wanted poster. Seems that while he
was  a mortal, he killed 3 men, and escaped from prison shortly after being put
on death row.  If he ever gets caught by police officers, he is a dead undead
man.

Name: Rimer
Clan: Brujah
Disciplines: Obfuscate, Fortitude, Aura Perception
(Make up a neonate Brujah)

You have been one of the Anarchs for as long as you have been in the area. You
were sired downtown in an alley near a punk club. You tried to mug another
Brujah, who beat you nearly to death, draining nearly all your blood. You
looked at him squarely in the eye, and with what was to be your last breath
said, "Does that mean you won't give me your money?" He laughed so hard that
he nearly forgot to make you stop drinking from the wound he had made in his
wrist. You always have been one to make a joke, even in the worst of
situations.

You find your new life to be a lot less worry, but you still have your old
problem of never having any money. You even once stooped to robbing a liquor
store, which turned out as a really bad situation since the guy behind the
counter shot you point-blank with a shotgun. You confused him by ripping the
security camera off the wall, smashing it, and racing out into the darkness.
You heard that the Prince shredded a newspaper when he heard about that one.

What you have been up to:
You knew it was a horrible mistake to sell your blood to Kapp. Even when you
consider how much he paid you, and in illegal guns to boot. Then you found out
about that the Tremere can  use your blood to own you and make you do anything
they want. So last night, you broke into the warehouse where Kapp keeps his
offices and stole what you thought was the vial of your blood. It was  the only
vial you could find in the warehouse.

Because you weren't quite sure about the vial, you found a Tremere who would
test the blood for you. The blood urned out to belong to Woodruff. You found
out early this evening, and promptly headed back toward the warehouse to see
if you could break in again. You took up position on the roof of a nearby
warehouse to see if anyone went in or out. You made it out to the warehouse
about 10:30. Sometime thereafter, you saw Jacob enter the warehouse. Even more
later, around 11:30, you saw Jacob leave. Within a few minutes, Royce wandered
into the building. Within a few minutes, you  heard the sound of an argument.
Before something bad happened, you left the area. You still haven't gotten
your blood back, and are very worried.

So you now have a vial of the wrong blood and no money (you spent it all.)
Likely, you are going to need to sell that blood, or even stoop to begging for
money.

Who you know:

Terry: One of your better friends in the city-if you can count Tremere as
friends. Terry is someone who can always be depended on.

Jacob: He is one of the people you saw entering the building. It looks like he
is now working for the Archon, which likely means that you are in serious
trouble.

Steele: This is a Kindred who recently became an assistant to the Archon. The
two of you were fairly good friends awhile back. In fact, the two of you
together were responsible for burning down the old Columbia Theatre. (It
really ticked off one of the  Nosferatu flunkies of the Prince. It won the two
of you a fair amount of prestige in the Anarch world.)  Mayhap he will have
some way to help you out of your jam. If you think that you can still trust
him.

Hawkins: You've bought information from this chap in the past. He can turn up
some really amazing things about people that they don't want to be known.
He spends a  lot of time out of town up North getting information.

Royce: He is the Childe of Kapp. This fellow Brujah is large and violent by
nature, so you avoid him most of the time.

Name: Charles Woodruff
Clan: Ventrue
Disciplines: Dominate,  Heightened Senses,  And one other of your choice, as
appropriate
(Make up a neonate Ventrue.)

You have always been one of the fortunate members of the royalty of the Old
South. Of course the other Ventrue tend to look down on your lot because your
kind never had formal titles, but you had all the power. Of course, the Gangrel
Prince and his lot took that power from you so now you are left with nothing.

Now you plan to do something about that. You and one of the sneaky Tremere,
known as Grigori, have been plotting to place a Ventrue Prince back on the
throne. While you are not the current choice for Prince, your position here
would improve greatly. All you have to do is come up with some way to get a
sample of the Prince's blood, and the Tremere can do the rest.

Until then, you keep yourself happy with raging at the wretched Gangrel, and
being your somewhat arrogant self. You deserve the power taken from you-it is
yours by right of the Clan who embraced you.

What you have been up to recently:

While you were in a bar a few nights ago, you barely felt the small prick of a
hypodermic needle. You did not even realize what was happening until you saw
Krista racing away. Because having some of your blood fall into the hands of
the Tremere is a very bad thing, you have been following her. Last night, you
cornered her in an alley. When you threatened to tear her heart out, she
agreed to let you meet with  her boss to buy back the blood. She also swore
that no Tremere were involved.

You came to the warehouse earlier this evening around 8:00. You met Kapp and
Krista, who told you that the blood had been stolen from them. You began to
scream, and came very close to a Frenzy. You vowed revenge in a hideous
fashion on those two as you stomped out of the warehouse. Killing them is not
a good idea. Making them pay for their crimes is.

Who you know:

Krista: The wretched creature who needs to have something bad happen to her. She
seems overly nervous and rightly so, as you have sworn revenge for her theft
of your blood.

Hawkins: A very useful contact in the city. He seems to be able to turn up all
sorts of useful information.

Edward: Another very useful information source. You alone seem to know that this
raving lunatic has flashes of amazing insight. The only problem is deciphering
what he is trying to say.

Terry: This Tremere turns out to be a really useful lead as to what the Tremere
have been up to of late. Terry might know if the Tremere have managed to find
your blood.

Leland: This is a Ventrue Archon from Europe who treats you as all of the other
European Ventrue treat you. He probably has not even noticed that you two are of
the same Clan. And because he is obviously a Gangrel sympathizer, he will find
some way to make you look bad.

Name: Selina
Clan: Toreador
Disciplines: Heightened Senses, Obfuscate, Aura Perception
(Make up a basic neonate Toreador)

You tend to take a lot of jobs for many important people. Usually they are the
sort of jobs which require a fair bit of secrecy, and have gotten you in a bit
of trouble in the past. So you've decided to go straight by working for the
Prince. One of his assistants, Steele, has only been around a few weeks.
You've been trying to  make Steele look bad so that you can step in. Try to
suck up to the Archon, since he obviously has the Prince's ear. If you can get
made an assistant by helping the investigation, so much the better.

Of course, not everyone is happy with your work. You slip up every so often.
One night, you had a particularly good drunk and let slip that you had acquired
a fair quantity of cheap cocaine for a Toreador Elder with a drug habit. The
Nosferatu, Hawkins, picked up on that tidbit of information and sold it to
some malicious Malkavians who started adding other substances to the city's
cocaine supply. The Toreador tossed one Malkavian in a nearby river after
weighing him down with stones. She is now looking for the person who let the
knowledge of her habit slip.

Play the evening as though you are somewhat intoxicated. The effect is starting
to wear down, so you will be sober by the end of the evening.

What you have been up to:

You have been keeping busy with the usual jobs. Kapp hired you to break into
the Tremere chapter house to steal a vial of the blood of Grigori, a Tremere
Ancilla. You actually managed to pull it off without anyone seeing. You
delivered the blood to Kapp, and he paid you $100,000. $5,000 of the money was
in cash, and it was given to you this evening.  You delivered the blood around
8:45 to Kapp here at the warehouse then skipped off toward a bar to find a few
people to drink. (You are a bit of an alcoholic.) Along the way you met Edward,
who accompanied you to the bar because you were going to arrange for there to
be a lot of very drunk people there.

Who you know:

Edward: A good companion for many of your binges. He's totally out of his mind,
but he is lots of fun. He has an unusual delusion of being a Great White
Hunter, and thinks that you are the Governor of Borneo.

Steele: This Kindred has only worked for the Prince for a few weeks. Make him
look really bad, and you'll have a job for life.  You heard that he was a
fairly rebellious Anarch, so digging up his past might help somewhat.

Leland: The man who is investigating problems. He is an obnoxious Ventrue, and
fairly powerful.

Grigori: This is the Tremere whose blood you stole. Be VERY wary of him, and try
to make  sure he is not out for revenge.

Hawkins: Bloody Nosferatu only tends to hang around you when you are drunk. He
is always  pumping you for information.

Terry: A Tremere who occasionally requests your services for the Tremere
superiors. This person obviously has something to hide. You noticed the
telltale black veins in Terry's aura several years ago that mark  Terry as a
Diablerist, but decided not to tell anyone in case the knowledge turned out to
be useful. You also did some checking around and found that someone drained
Terry's sire. Looks pretty bad for Terry. If you need a favor, you know who to
go to.

Name: Royce
Clan: Brujah
Disciplines: Potence, Fortitude, Claws
(Take 9 points physical Traits, instead of 7. Then put the 5 and 3 as either
Mental or Social as usual.)

You spent much of your mortal life angry at one thing or another. You migrated
to a punk lifestyle because you found a similar energy and violence in the
entire movement. You got more violent until one night you beat a bouncer to
death because he ejected you from a club. You were arrested and sent to prison
for 10 years. After 2 years, you had killed another 2 men and crippled
another during fights in prison, and you were sentenced to be electrocuted.
You managed to escape
from prison and you now have to keep a low profile, because your face still
turns up on wanted posters occasionally.

You met Kapp, who seemed to like your energy, and so he made you one of his
kind. Kapp has been a fair sire, but you worry about him because he is
entirely too softhearted and often does not have his priorities straight. In
fact, most of your time as his Childe was spent arguing with him in one way or
another.

What you have been up to:
You have been up to an incredibly lucrative business involving selling Kindred
blood to a group of investigators at the CDC. Your three partners in this crime
against the Masquerade are Kapp, Krista, and Jacob. While the business
seem dangerous, the  CDC people are only researching rare blood types, and
seem willing to pay a lot of money. The four of you have netted over $2
million so far. The warehouse owned by Kapp because of his 'legitimate' trade
in guns, provided a perfect cover.

However, the operation has not been quite as lucrative as it should be,
considering the incredible danger of breaking the Masquerade. As such, you
have tried to arrange for the operation to provide blood to the Tremere. This
is an unliked practice, but it certainly isn't as dangerous as selling blood
to the CDC. Kapp did not seem to like the idea at all, so you told Terry about
your whole operation. Terry seemed quite impressed and agreed to set up a
trade to the Tremere.

Things did not get much better. This evening, you were to meet at the
warehouse at 11:30. Jacob had larrived and left  earlier, and Krista was
running late as usual. Kapp told you that most of the money on hand had been
used to procure a vial of blood of a high-ranking Tremere. You were furious at
Kapp's actions, and in a Frenzy staked him to the floor. Fortunately, you did
not go over the edge and actually kill Kapp, but left him lying there on the
warehouse floor as a sort of punishment. You knew that Krista would  be  along
shortly, and she would likely unstake the twit. You left, rather than face
killing Kapp in another Frenzy.

You would really like to find out how Kapp found out about the Tremere.
The Tremere were supposed to keep everything a secret from him. Likely that
sleaze Jacob somehow found out, and warned him. That is why he left before you
showed up at the warehouse tonight.

By the way, you have another problem. At 4:30, there are two guys from the CDC
who are going to be appearing at the warehouse to pick up a few more vials of
blood. Try to make sure that the case is resolved by then, or you are going to
be in serious trouble.

Who you know:

Jacob: He is working for the Archon as well as involved in selling blood to the
CDC. For that reason, you can't trust him much.

Krista: This lunatic who you have been working with, actually seems to not
mind that the blood is going to the CDC. She doesn't seem very interested in
the money the operation is pulling in. Likely, she has to be the murderer of
Kapp.

See that she pays for  her  crime without destroying the blood ring.

Terry: A useful Tremere who you told about your operation. This Tremere might
know what the Elder Tremere think about the situation.

Roger Hawkins: You found his name on a spare notepad in Kapp's office. The two
were up to something together. You can be sure of that.

Name: Roger Hawkins
Clan: Nosferatu
Disciplines: Obfuscate, Mask of a thousand faces, Heightened Senses.

Being a Nosferatu is such a lonely thing. At least your Clan is close-knit
enough that you don't perpetually try to screw each other over like the rest
of the lunatics who call themselves Kindred. But you have so much fun raking
their secrets over the coals, it almost makes their scorn worthwhile. All of
them hate the Nosferatu clan. Just look at  the Columbia Theatre. It was a
favored Haven of your Clan Elder, until some malicious person burned it down.
Your Elder has promised to trade a few juicy secrets for the Kindred who finds
out who was behind
that one. And you can be so cruel to whoever it is by taunting them that you
know and are going to tell it all to someone very powerful.

They could do something to you about all the knowledge that you know, but the
other Nosferatu could always make them suffer. Only a really brave or stupid
Kindred would touch you. Rub it in.

You are also an agent of the Sabbat. It is a perfect cover, because the clan
Nosferatu protects its own. And you can sew false information and rumors to
weaken the city severely. No one here is bright enough to figure out what you
are doing.

What you have been up to:
Kapp hired you to dig up some information on Krista. You found out that she
had been working with a group of Hunters called the Arcanum in the  past, and
had even killed another Kindred in London. You were going to bring a letter
from the Prince of London mentioning the Blood Hunt to Kapp this evening.

As you approached the warehouse, you saw Krista fleeing the place in a serious
hurry. Stupidly, you slipped into the warehouse. As you approached one area,
you smelled a faint smell of lighter fluid. Nervously, you groped around in
the darkness, and touched upon a pile of ashes. Lighting a match, you saw a
pile of ashes which was laid out in a vague human form. You raced from the
warehouse and ran to tell the Prince, lest you be accused of the murder of a
Kindred.

You left the warehouse about  12:30,  and are just going back with a Ventrue
Archon named Leland.

Who you know:

Krista: Dangerous. You have a letter telling that she is blood hunted in London.

Woodruff: This Kindred has used your services much in the past. He always pays
well and is honorable, although he is very temperamental. He is possibly more
guilty than all of the rest. He hates the Gangrel rulership of the city, and
is likely trying to overthrow the Prince.

Royce: This man and Kapp were working together on something, as you heard Kapp
mention his name once on the phone. It would be worth quite a bit to someone to
find out exactly what.

Selina: She is another Kindred with whom you have had many business dealings.
She tends to deal  more with actual goods than information. She is also an
alcoholic, so it is very easy to get information from her.  Occasionally
people trust her with a secret or two. Recently, she told you about a Toreador
Elder who has a cocaine habit. You traded the information to some Malkavians
for a nice, unused warehouse.

Name: Krista Davies
Clan: Toreador
Disciplines: Dominate, Aura Perception, Red Eyes

You have always been a fairly absent-minded lady in life. You tend to forget
about appointments until the last minute and frequently leave important bits
of information lying about everywhere. How you managed to get a degree in
biology is a mystery. And when one day a strange man swapped blood samples with
one you were analyzing, you did not even notice. Eventually, the man made you
one of his kind,  so that you could continue to study the blood of Kindred. At
least until some morning  you forget that you have to be back home by sunrise.

What you have been up to:
You have been up to an incredibly lucrative business involving selling Kindred
blood to a group of investigators at the CDC. Your three partners in this crime
against  the Masquerade are Kapp, the Royce, and the Jacob. While the business
seem dangerous, the CDC people are only researching rare blood, and seem willing
to pay a  lot of  money. The four of you have netted over $2 million so far.
And the warehouse owned  by Kapp because of his 'legitimate' trade in guns,
provided a perfect cover.

At first, the CDC seemed to be entirely interested in simply trying to find out
what Kindred were. You have always wished to have a group of mortals with
enough  scientific equipment to find out what made you tick. You worked with
the Arcanum in London--and even defended a member of their order from a rogue
Kindred. This unfortunately got you Blood Hunted, and you had to flee London.
No one in Atlanta knows of your past, because they would have already tried to
drag you back to London. Lately, you have begun to suspect that another group
of Hunters is funding the CDC research to make a disease to destroy Kindred
once and for all. You tried to get Kapp to stop the sale of blood, but he
refused to listen to you.

Tonight you went to the warehouse around 8:15 to meet Kapp and a chap named
Woodruff. The CDC has been requesting blood of older Kindred, so you decided
to try an experiment and see if you could get some by using a hypodermic.
Woodruff noticed you, and followed you. Two nights later, he cornered you in
an alley and demanded his blood back. You agreed to have him meet Kapp, where
he could buy his blood for an agreed-upon price. Last night someone broke into
the warehouse and stole the vial of Woodruff's blood. When Kapp told Woodruff
this at 8:15 this evening, Woodruff was absolutely furious and swore revenge
upon both of you.

You went to the warehouse shortly after midnight to try and dissuad Kapp once
more from selling blood. As you entered the warehouse, you saw the last
remains of a stake burning in what appeared to be a burning Kindred. Fearing
for your life, you prepared to flee from the city.

The only useful tidbit of news you know is that your Clan Elder is out to find
the Kindred who told the Malkavians about her cocaine habit. She has already
done something nasty to several Malkavians.

Who you know:

Jacob: He is your partner and crime, as well as an assistant to the Archon. He
is your best hope to keep the deal with the CDC out of the murder
investigation. If he fails, you could all end up dead. At first you thought
that he was an exceedingly old and powerful Kindred, since he speaks an
ancient-seeming version of English. It made you curious, and so you did a bit
of prowling through some Linguistics books, and  discovered that the dialect
of English that he speaks is not Shakesperian, but rather from the Appalachian
mountains.

Royce: This fiery individual is one of your partners in the blood ring. He is
definitely in this for the money.

Woodruff: This person is probably very angry at both you and Kapp for losing
his blood. Watch him closely.

Edward: This individual often hangs around this block of warehouses. You have
talked on occasion, but there is usually not very much point in it. Still, you
are at least  friendly toward one another, which is better than the rest of
these wretched Kindred.  You also noticed that Kapp spent an inordinate amount
of time talking to this lunatic, you wish that you knew why he bothered.

Name: Grigori
Clan: Tremere
Disciplines: Dominate, Forgetful Mind, Thaumaturgy,  One Intermediate blood
discipline
(Create a character with 9,6,4 as your statistic values.)

You are one of the leaders of clan Tremere in the city. This means that you
collect fair amounts of everyone's blood, since you can do fairly nasty things
to those whose blood you have. The Justicar who he serves sent some along to
the Tremere in Atlanta to help keep him in  line. Seems that he got a Gangrel
wrongfully destroyed, and so the Ventrue Justicar thought that Leland might
need a little help staying in line. Apparently Leland hates Gangrel
passionately.

What you have been up to:
Terry came to you a few days ago telling you of a wonderful opportunity. A
mixed group of non-Tremere have been collecting blood and selling it to a
group of interested mortals. One of the members of the group was becoming
nervous at selling to mortals, and suggested that you send some of your agents
to buy the blood instead.

You agreed to the idea and started the arrangements to buy the blood. However,
earlier this evening a vial of your blood was stolen from your chapter house.
Fearing that perhaps Kapp has figured out what you wished to do, you sent
Terry down to see if that is what had happened.

Later this evening, you heard that agents of the Prince were rounding several
people up and escorting them to the warehouse where Kapp did his business. You
decided to go down there yourself, to make sure that the investigation doesn't
turn against the Tremere. You hope that your blood is not in the warehouse.
That would be difficult to explain.

Who you know:

Terry: This is a trustworthy, if overenthusiastic, agent of yours. If Kapp did
find out that you were planning to do something about taking blood from his
ring, the only way you  can think of for him to find out is through Terry. The
two of you need to have a long talk soon.

Royce: Terry says that this man is the one who decided to tell the Tremere about
the blood sale to the CDC. Terry swears that she never mentioned your name to
this man.

Leland: The primary investigator in this case. You've never liked him much, as
he has interfered in several lucrative blood trades.

Selina: An incredibly useful free agent and information source. She may have
some idea  who stole your blood.

Woodruff: This Ventrue is your contact, and is supposed to provide you with a
sample of blood from the Prince so that you can drive him from the city.

Name: Terry Priest
Clan: Tremere
Disciplines: Thaumaturgy, Obfuscate, and  Aura Perception
(Take trait scores of 7, 6, 4 to represent your experience. Also add one to
your generation. You'll need it.)

You are a minor occultist in that Atlanta area. You got your first real taste
of power right before the Tremere embraced you to make sure that they could
claim you as their own. You took to your Tremere training with an amazing lack
of caution. You burned down a fair part of a chapter house once, and another
time fell into torpor when you sucked all of the blood out of your body. Your
incaution has led you to do worse things, though. After you finished your
studies, you had an argument with your Sire, and decided on the spot to kill
and drink your Sire to gain power. Sure it was stupid, but you've had
somewhat of a suicidal attitude all your life.

What you have been up to:
Royce approached you one day and told you that he was involved in a ring of
people who had been acquiring blood from Kindred and selling it to the Atlanta
Center for Disease Control. He suggested that maybe the Tremere would be
interested in buying the blood, instead. It would have to be done without the
knowledge of the ring's leader, named Kapp. You passed this information to
your superior in the Tremere. Grigori began to make the financial arrangements.
You talked to this gentleman at the CDC named Jim Ritchie and found out that he
was one of the people who pick up the "rare blood" from the warehouse. He made
you a bit nervous since he professed some knowledge of the occult, but it
looks like he has not gotten very far at all.

Tonight, however, a vial of Grigori's blood was stolen. Grigori was absolutely
positive that Kapp knew about  the plot. Grigori sent you to recover the blood
and deal with Kapp. You went down to the warehouse right at midnight and found
Kapp staked and lying in the warehouse floor. As you looked carefully about,
you could see no one, so you decided to deal with him in the most devious
manner. You found a bottle of lighter fluid, soaked Kapp, and lit him. You
never touched Kapp, and no one saw you in the warehouse. It looked as if you
had committed the perfect murder.

You are having a few second thoughts about the murder as the Prince's men
escort you back to the warehouse. You might have missed something, like the
amulet you were wearing earlier this evening. You don't seem to have it on
you. It is a pretty distinctive amulet which is shaped like a hand with several
mystical runes hanging from it. If it is still around here somewhere, you had
best find it.


It is not a magical amulet, but you have gotten very used to wearing it nearly
all of the time.

Who you know:

Grigori: He is your superior. You are not yet sure if you should tell him about
the murder. He might either cover up anything you might have missed, or happily
turn you in to save his own skin. How much can you trust him? You do have a
very useful letter from a Ventrue Elder to Grigori which sounds pretty
incriminating.

Royce: He is the person who told you about the blood ring. He will at least help
you keep quiet about the ring, as he is the one guilty of selling Kindred
blood to mortals.

Rimer: An old friend of yours, even though he used to be one of the more
rebellious Anarchs. He usually seems to dig up a fair bit of information. He
looks even more nervous than you tonight, however.

Hawkins: You heard that he was the one who found the body. If anyone knows
anything that can prove that you flamed Kapp, it is he.

Name: Edward Charles Winslow Standish
Clan: Malkavian
(Create a neonate Malkavian with the Disciplines, Curse of Sutekh, Fortitude,
and Meld with Earth.

What you have been doing:
You have finally done it. After 5 years of trekking around these jungles of
Borneo, you have discovered a prize called the Great Hand of Omegon. It was so
easy, you found it on the  ground. Now all you need to do is find the one man
who needs to possess it, and is  willing to pay a high enough price for it. Of
course, DON'T LET ANYONE BUT THE  BUYER TOUCH THE AMULET. If they are not the
true owner the Amulet will possess their spirit, and they will be more
doomed than those dudes in the last scene of Raiders of the Lost Ark. You
must make sure that the buyer is pure of heart.

It was a long search through the jungles. You would occasionally talk to the
Native Chieftain who lived here in his village's stock house. He told you
tales of how his tribe would sell their blood to the white man in return for
baubles.

You observed their trading for awhile and found it fairly useless. You did
notice that another tribe led by  Grigori was trying to take their blood to use
against them. Chieftain thanked you for this information. He then responded
with one of his amazing insights into human nature which you found was his
speciality, "Remember, Edward, people never look at the last page of a notepad
until all of the paper is gone."

Or course other bad things have happened. Two weeks ago, one of the Painter
Tribe came down with the Flu and blamed one of the other Great White Hunters
for passing it to her. She threw him in the river unjustly for that crime. You
know because it was your fault. You made sure to add the nectar from the
Berries of Madness to the drug which she occasionally takes. You don't like
her tribe very much either.

This evening was amazing. You were feeling very annoyed at your failures, when
the colony Governor asked you out to a Tavern to drink with her. She had just
acquired a nice sum of money. There, you and she observed the customary native
ritual of drinking the blood of a few of the patrons at the bar, and the
Governor got smashed  as usual. She finally told you that she got all of her
money by stealing some of the blood of Grigori's tribe and selling it to the
Native Chieftain.

Needing some money, and discouraged from your search for the Great Ankh, you
headed back to the Chieftain's home to see if you could help in his fight
against the Grigori's tribe. And there on the ground, you found the great
amulet!

You were surprised by some of the Rebel Soldiers, who  came and took you to the
Chieftain's stock house, and are now keeping you as a sort of prisoner. See if
you can find someone to help you break out. Perhaps even one of these gentlemen
will be pure of heart and  be the one to buy the Amulet.

(Add to this Schizophrenic fantasy with your own tales of a Great White Hunter
looking for prizes in the jungles of South America and Borneo.)

Who you know: (And by what names you know them)

The murder victim Kapp (The Native Chieftain): A man who gave you much guidance
in his quest, and who obviously killed himself in the native ritual of
immolation. Perhaps you need to get some of his ashes to smoke in your pipe
as a token of respect.

Selina (The Governor): This woman is the Governor of the colony. You and she are
quite good drinking partners, and you find it very nice that she always tries
to observe native rituals. You've heard rumors that the Governor is actually
one of the Painter Tribe in Secret.

Grigori (The Leader of the Enemy Tribe): This is not a very trustworthy man. He
has been trying to steal the blood of your friend's tribe. Likely, he will
inject the blood into some  chickens to weaken the spirit of the warriors of
the Chieftain's Tribe.

Krista (The field biologist): One of those incredibly boring nerdy types, the
Biologist is at  least a decent lady. She doesn't seem to know a thing about
butterflies though, so you think that she may be hiding something. Perhaps
she is not even a biologist at all.

Hawkins (Sasquatch): He isn't hairy enough by far, but he's definitely a South
American descendant of Bigfoot. You need to get he and Krista together to
see if she can tell anything about him. The only problem is that he wants to
see everyone in this room destroyed. He seems to want to take over the world
to make it safe for Sasquatch kind. Make sure to warn everyone.