We are ravaged to realize that Tim has elected to spend the day with his family, but Bruce (Jack Rowell) does his best to reassure everyone by quoting witty passages from Jared Diamond's The Third Chimpanzee. Dan (Oliver Bradford) looks very much like he is learning things about Bruce that he never wanted or needed to know. Chris and Chuck (Liam Morgan) seem to concur. Paul (Alan MaCavity) exults in it all.
The Malkavian Primogen Howard Jacobs was (at least to all appearances) blown up along with his favorite building on June 25th. In the last session (the following Friday), the characters investigated the building and inadvertently completed it's destruction. They subsequently looked into the State Mental Hospital and found that Jacobs had managed to attain a level of control much, much deeper than even their most terrible nightmares had hinted. Chaos ensued.
The downside of all this activity is that everyone in the city has been to keep quiet and keep vampiric activity to a minimum. Both the Prince Simon Bradford and Sheriff Glen Tanner are expecting large numbers of FBI types to show up and investigate the explosions (which now look a lot like some sort of terrorist activity).
Allen MaCavity travels to see the Prince on Sunday. He notices that the Prince's staff is substantially more interested in security now than they were back in those halcyon days when buildings didn't suddenly leap into the sky and fly into pieces. The extra security makes Allen late for his appointed meeting-time, but the Prince isn't concerned. He just makes Allen wait another ten minutes.
Once the Prince has received him, MaCavity describes why he wanted the appointment. Allen explains that he wants to join the Toreador Clan. The Prince is intrigued, in a rather clinical way. He asks MaCavity if he wouldn't prefer to be Prince instead. MaCavity demurs, repeating that he would only like to become a Toreador. As an incentive, MaCavity points out that he has found that the Sabbat had been keeping vials of blood belonging to both the Prince and one of his Childer, and that he had recently recovered them from a stash left by Jon Gilliard. The Prince betrays some interest, asking if MaCavity thinks that Gilliard was a member of the Sabbat, and who did the testing to determine the origins of the blood. MaCavity refuses to play to the Prince's fears, commenting only that he had the testing done by a "reliable" Tremere. The Prince does not seem totally convinced that any Tremere can actually be reliable, but he lets the matter drop.
The Prince notes that while he can make a decree saying that MaCavity is Toreador, he doubts that this will translate into the social acceptance that MaCavity wants. MaCavity refuses to be discouraged, and points out that he doesn't know his creator's name. He could well have the blood of one of the Clans flowing in his veins, and Toreador is no less likely than any other (with the obvious exception of Nosferat). The Prince suggests going back to his "reliable" Tremere to have his own blood tested: that should determine which Clan he sprang from up to the Tremere's level of reliability.
At this point, MaCavity takes a leap of faith and simply hands the vials of blood over to the Prince. The Prince is apparently surprised by MaCavity's decision to forego long, complicated exchange routines, and Dominates him to find out if MaCavity has actually handed over all of the blood. MaCavity answers as honestly as he can (not that he has all that much choice), saying that he has given over all of the Toreador blood Gilliard had stashed away. The Prince continues to ask questions:
The Prince is finally satisfied, and allows MaCavity to depart with his carcass and at least some of his hopes still intact.
Liam Morgan continues to work upon ghouling the female police officer he met in the last session, acting with a speed that makes the other characters deeply bored. Though he doesn't manage to actually finish ghouling her, he does tweak her interest by implying that he has the money to open up a nightclub, and wants her to help him run it. He also explains his plans to the characters in slightly more detail than he offered the girl. He wants to open up a strip club in the Carter Arms fief to replace the now-defunct Ad Hoc Club. He asks Jack Rowell if he would tweak his various official contacts to arrange the necessary permits, the sort of task that Rowell is more than happy to agree to perform. Sadly, though Rowell feels the chances of getting permits are fairly good, he is forced to admit that he won't be able to pony up much money for the project, as his development grants are still some months away, limiting his ability to siphon money out of the Carter Arms Public Development Corporation. Oliver Bradford saves the day when he casually lets drop that he is a multimillionaire and agrees to bankroll the club.
The prospective site is near the Streetwalkers' Alley, which puts it safely away from the drug dealers but conveniently close to where the ladies of the night ply their trade.
Oliver Bradford stops by the Prince's office building for a chat. Before he is allowed in, he is subjected to the same heightened security as MaCavity. Bradford notes that while the Prince obviously wants to see him, he is somehow not as friendly as he had been in the past. Bradford is given to thinking that this might be somehow personal.
The Prince asks him if it is true that Bradford had done some investigation of the Malkavian Primogen's building for the Sheriff after it blew up (the first time). Bradford says that he had. The Prince asks if Bradford entered the building. He again says that he had. The Prince asks if the Sheriff told him to. Bradford says that the Sheriff didn't tell him to enter the building, but didn't say not to (he just said "investigate"). The Prince is upset, and mentions that he'd hoped that the contents of the 13th through 15th floors would have been properly processed by people who wouldn't tell the Sheriff what was there.
Bradford reports that the only body they found was the already-burnt one the characters turned over to the Prince. Bradford assures the Prince that he didn't keep any pieces of the body (for "souvenirs").
The Prince tells Bradford that he suspects that the Tremere can do "useful" (threatening) things if they can get a piece of the body of a vampire. Bradford suggests that the Prince might want to talk to Malcolm Carter, who seems to be unhappy as a Tremere and might want to vanish. The Prince seems rather unwilling to accept the notion of a Tremere who can be turned, but politely refrains from belittling his Grandchilde over the matter.
At this point, Bradford offers up a somewhat more controversial suggestion. He suggests that all the swarms of Caitiff the Prince currently keeps out of the city could be useful. He argues that the Prince might want to gather them up to be used… as a tool. They could be given "tribe" prestige, and be very handy. The Prince points out that there are a lot of Caitiff, but that they are manageable because they are leaderless and divided. He doesn't want to let them become a legitimate, unified political faction. He doesn't know how many are out there, though he might have a better clue if he had a Scourge worth the name. He certainly doesn't want them to know how many of them there are out there. Were he to start unifying them, this would be a clear signal to any other Caitiff to travel to Houston. Pretty soon, there would be Caitiff underfoot everywhere.
Bradford listens to the Prince's objections, and offers a possible solution. He suggests giving them a small plot of land for hunting, and then executing them if they ever leave. He argues that the Prince should unify them just enough to let them be controlled, but not enough to let them be a threat.
The Prince remains unconvinced, commenting that he is also worried about Sabbat infiltrators. Caitiff, Malkavians and Gangrel are the prime clans for infiltrators to claim membership in. He also mentions that many Caitiff are actually Anarchs, and they just seem to think that it's their duty to cause trouble. At this point, Bradford drops the bombshell that Clayton Burrell, who claimed to be Caitiff and got blown sky-high ("Good job there, that's the kind of Caitiff we need!"), was actually some kind of Egyptian snake-worshipping vampire. He also had a Childe, David Patchmaier, who had been one of Jon Galliard's ghouls. Bradford notes that Patchmaier was once a skip-tracer, and might be able to find Majid. The Prince is deeply interested by this news, and even more interested by the fact that Clayton didn't get permission to create a Childe. The Prince asks if anybody else knew about this, and if they knew anything. Bradford acts guilty, so the Prince elects to let him remain silent.
The Prince tells Bradford to bring Patchmaier around to meet him tonight. Bradford calls Patchmaier right up and invites him. Patchmaier is concerned, noting that Clayton Burrell had said that meeting the Prince would be bad. Bradford finally talks Patchmaier into showing up.
About a half hour later, David Patchmaier shows up looking apprehensive. He isn't allowed to leave. The Prince thanks Bradford and bids him goodnight. Patchmaier watches Bradford walk away with the sort of weepy puppy-dog expression that says, "I'm going to be gassed, aren't I?"
Bradford puts up an argument in favor of allowing him to Blood-Bond Patchmaier. The Prince doesn't immediately agree to this, particularly when he realizes that Patchmaier is 14th generation. He asks Patchmaier "So, can you heal wounds with blood?" Patchmaier stammers, "Uhhh…. No. But I can heal slowly from one night to the next." The Prince smiles and offers, "Well, isn't that useless."
Bradford calls up MaCavity and says that he tried to get the Prince to put MaCavity in charge of all Caitiff in the city, but "Grandpa kept on using you an example of everything that's wrong with Caitiff in the city." MaCavity doesn't seem too upset that he didn't get promoted into management.
His interview with the Prince over, Oliver Bradford travels out to Galveston to talk to his Sire, Jack Bradford, the Duke of Galveston. Oliver proposes a wild idea. He wants to build an arena and have "Toreador Contra Toros" battles in it. He envisions actual vampiric bullfighting. To make things challenging, the bull would be ghouled to make it meaner (Brujah blood would be ideal, because it would make the bull even more prone to Frenzy). Duke Bradford actually thinks this is a neat idea, and says that he thinks it has long-term promise.
Confident in his plans, Oliver Bradford proceeds home to call up Darren Rutherford, the spooky opera writer, to arrange an appointment on the next Tuesday. He ends up making the appointment with one of Darren's ghouls, because the Maestro refuses talk about his passion over something so vulgar as a telephone.
Jack Rowell learns about Clayton Burrell's untimely death on Sunday night, from the Prince himself. The Prince then tells him that he has already "cleaned up" one of Burrell's loose ends, specifically David Patchmaier. Rowell tells the Prince that there are two other possible loose ends. First, Burrell had kept the maintenance man from the Carter Arms as a ghoul. Second, Burrell had a ranch outside of town that could have some compromising items in it. Burrell asks permission to take the Carter Arms maintenance man as his own ghoul (pointing out that he has already been granted permission for a third ghoul), and promises to organize an expedition to "clean up" Burrell's ranch, maybe with gasoline. The Prince gives him permission to take the maintenance man, and expresses surprising confidence in Rowell's judgment with respect to Burrell's old ranch. Rowell promises to get right on top of both problems.
Jack Rowell is working in the offices of the Carter Arms Development Corporation when he notices that one of Clayton Burrell's old alarms on the 8th floor office is sounding. Rowell is immediately suspicious, and asks his ghoul Laquonda Jeets to bring in her worthless relative Jeremy to dress up as a maintenance guy and check it out. Rowell liberally uses Dominate to make sure Jeremy has an incentive to obey his instructions.
Jeremy goes upstairs to the characters' office armed with a walkie-talkie and acting like he's supposed to fix the air conditioner. He walks into the office, looks around, and reports back that he didn't see anything. Rowell meets him in a basement maintenance room (taking normal precautions against Obfuscators) to retrieve the walkie-talkie and to slip Jeremy $50.
Only half-convinced that something bad is going on, Rowell calls in Liam Morgan and Allen MaCavity. Morgan arrives first. Rowell meets him in the lobby. Instants after they meet, gunfire happens. A biker-guy appears from nowhere and hoses them down with a small-caliber submachinegun. Though both Rowell and Morgan are hit, neither of them are particularly impressed with the gunman's choice of weapon. Noting that both of them are still standing, the gunman quickly agrees with them (doubtless imagining that he should have picked up something with a higher caliber). He deals with his insecurities by dropping his gun and vanishing in front of the two characters.
A block down the street, Allen MaCavity hears the gunfire. He decides to approach the Colfield Plaza slowly enough to stay Obfuscated (this will take three rounds).
Liam Morgan and Jack Rowell have barely a chance to congratulate themselves on surviving such an ineffective ambush when two more biker-types come in through the front door. One carries a chain, the other a handgun. Rowell is totally ineffective at shooting the gunman, while Morgan hits the other with a baton, opening him up and knocking him down. Wide-scale chaos breaks out, as the vanishing gunman reappears bearing a handgun to shoot holes through Rowell ("I'm mauled!"). A fourth biker-type with Gangrel-like animal features walks onto the scene in the company of a veritable river of angry rats.
The handgun-bearing biker tackles Rowell and pins him. Rowell's efforts to squirm out of the hold are fundamentally worthless. Morgan, having already clubbed the chain-wielding goon to death, breaks his baton on the handgun biker's head. The biker doesn't even look hurt. At this point, the rats overwhelm Rowell, Morgan, and the chain-wielding biker, though they prove to be more annoying than dangerous. Left without his baton, Morgan tries hitting the biker with a fist. He is quite surprised to actually hurt his hand on the back of the guy's head. Out of disgust, he finally pulls a handgun with "Desert Eagle 50" printed on the side and shoots the guy, actually hurting him. He shoots the guy a couple more times, with negligible effect. Rowell (still pinned) screams like a girl.
Things get a touch weirder when the chain guy stands up and heads towards Morgan, who shoots his head off.
By this time, MaCavity has finally reached the Colfield Plaza. He notes the animalistic biker standing at the door screaming something about "Stupid rats!" MaCavity shoots him from ambush, accomplishing essentially nothing.
Rowell tries Dominating the biker pinning him, ordering him to "Run." The biker glazes for a moment, then spends Willpower to resist. Much to Rowell's discomfiture, his next step is to bite! Rowell takes a point of aggravated damage and realizes that the biker will start draining his blood in a second. Just in the nick of time, Morgan gets off a good shot into the biker's head, sending fragments of it into Rowell's face. Rowell claims to have never been so happy in his life.
At this point, Morgan is forced to reload. He clicks in a new magazine and opens up on the rat biker. He is on the verge of frenzy from hunger, and there are rats all over the place. The animalistic biker falls and doesn't get up.
Having contributed nothing but a target to the fight, Jack Rowell takes charge of the mop-up efforts. He has the characters push the three bodies down the elevator shaft, and then Liam Morgan (who is just about to go crazy from lack of blood) after them. He brings in his ghoul Isaac Purcell (the Colfield Plaza maintenance man) to mop up the floor and clear away the most obvious pieces of evidence. He then makes up a story about a crazy junkie who shot a bunch of rats in the lobby that should withstand police scrutiny if appropriately backed with Dominate.
Meanwhile, Liam Morgan starts having problems. He starts feeding from the bodies in the elevator shaft (just as Rowell had hoped), but then manages to botch his Self-Control roll. Within seconds, he has diablerized two 14th generation vampires and plunges deep into Frenzy. Everyone else realizes what is happening when they hear his inhuman "I am the Master of the Universe!" scream. Rowell tells his not to go down into the basement when he's done. Purcell doesn't look like he really needed to be told this.
Morgan spends quite a while smashing up the basement and a water heater.
It takes Rowell about twenty minutes to convince the four cars full of cops that a junkie shot up the lobby with a machine gun because he wanted to kill some rats. Rowell makes a point of letting the cops assume that he is some sort of building manager, though he pointedly never actually claims to be affiliated with the Colfield Plaza in any way. The cops all start out thinking that Rowell is a lying bastard, and walk away convinced that he is the most trustworthy, hard-working guy ever to run the Colfield Plaza.
With the cops gone and Liam Morgan more-or-less calmed down, the characters head down to the basement to survey the damage. The place is pretty heavily damaged. The water heater is totally shattered. Both of the bodies are dust, a clear indication that diablerie has occurred.
Allen MaCavity goes outside to check out the neighborhood. He sees local youths stealing the second of three motorcycles that had been parked in a side alley. He notices that the last motorcycle has saddlebags. MaCavity checks them out and finds a handgun, some ammo, a cell phone, a pouch with some Mexican coinage, and a notebook. The notebook contains a listing of the characters' names (including Clayton, but not Oliver Bradford or Byron) next to the comment "Colfield Plaza 8th floor" and a few notes about following Liam around. MaCavity lets the kids steal the third motorcycle after he finishes with the saddlebags.
Everyone heads out to hunt. Morgan spends a lot of time trying to justify the fact that he's just diablerized two other vampires. MaCavity encourages him, "Oh yeah. And killing helpless puppies is okay because they could turn into big, dangerous dogs later on."
Bradford thinks about who the biker was following. He starts to suspect that the biker was following either Liam Morgan or Allen MaCavity.
The characters take two vehicles and all kinds of equipment (guns, armor, gasoline jerrycans) out to Clayton Burrell's old place. They try to take pains to not be followed.
Clayton Burrell's place consists of a tin shed and a Quonset garage next to a double-wide mobile home. One section of the garage and the entire trailer have been very thoroughly soundproofed. The garage contains a lot of expensive car-repair tools, in addition to a car fitted with a nitro injection system and a spare nitro pack. While the other characters search the mobile home for anything unusual (jerrycans of blood, manacles, etc) Oliver Bradford sneaks out into the darkness to watch for uninvited guests. The only mildly suspicious item the characters find is a small, cheesy, plastic altar to Set in the bedroom. The characters clean it up.
All in all, the characters spend three or four hours clearing evidence of vampiric occupancy away. They drive off with the nitro car and the spare injection system. Jack Rowell rents a garage for it and parks it for "later."
Jack Rowell uses Laquonda Jeets to gain entrée into the Carter Arms, handily bypassing all the Nation of Islam security guys, to ghoul Joseph Kresh (the maintenance man, and Clayton Burrell's old ghoul). Liam Morgan gets an extra experience point by popular acclamation for actually suggesting that Rowell should use his other ghoul as cover to get into the building (Rowell is obviously guilty of not using his own resources effectively). The whole ghouling process works well, as Rowell is able to use his Dominate to ensure that Kresh meets with him outside the Carter Arms on the next two evenings.
The characters managed to capture two cell phones from the bikers. One phone has eleven stored numbers, the other one has nine. Two of the numbers are unlisted. The remainder are listed to Houston cell phone users. It's obvious that there were originally six people in the group, each with their own cell phone. The seventh shared number has an El Paso area code, suggesting that the bikers were either Sabbat or in league with them. The two remaining numbers on the one phone lead to a local (Houston) pizza place and an escort service.
On Tuesday, Oliver Bradford visits Darren Rutherford's mansion to talk to him about Rutherford's new opera. Bradford is shown into the banquet hall, where 20 people are pinned to their seats around a massive formal dining table. Bradford tells Rutherford about his plans for a bullfight, and asks if he might have some old music in an appropriate style available to be showcased. Bradford is interested in something to get the crowd excited and in the mood for a bullfight. Rutherford asks if anyone in the crowd will speak Spanish, and Bradford admits that most of them probably will not. Rutherford sounds doubtful. Bradford suggests that Rutherford might want to see some of his films, in which Bradford plays a bullfighter, to get an idea of the style. Bradford does his best to assure Rutherford that important Kindred will be attending. He also explains that it will not be for a while, because the "set" has not yet been constructed - arranging the proper atmosphere is difficult.
Rutherford points out that if the audience is inappropriate, they will not be able to appreciate the music and he might become angered. Bradford (eager to avoid making anyone as crazy as Rutherford mad) offers to show him the guest list to allay his various suspicions. He estimates that the party will be happening in less than a year, which Rutherford considers to be "not much time." Rutherford assures Bradford that he will be able to provide musicians to play, though he notes that things might become "difficult" if any non-Kindred appear, particularly people who are likely to take photographs. Rutherford is unwilling to consider substitute musicians, as any other musicians wouldn't be trained properly. Bradford imagines that Rutherford's musicians are all folks who have been "dead" for years, held together with wires, with taps in their necks.
Bradford offers his goodbyes and departs.
MaCavity decides to follow up on the Prince's suggestion and have the Tremere test his blood. He contacts the Tremere Elizabeth Griss, who tells him to meet her (and her Childe Leo Bjork) at Zyvan Research.
The building is a beautiful place with elegant columns and carefully-designed gardens. A tasteful plaque next to the main entrance confirms that this is Zyvan Research. The front entryway is tinted glass, opaque from the outside, with a small intercom on the side. Allen MaCavity introduces himself to the intercom and is buzzed in. The guards inside give him a laminated "VISITOR" badge and take him through a rather uninspiring cubical farm to see Elizabeth Griss, who actually appears to be some sort of officer at the company.
Elizabeth Griss has the sort of office you would expect of someone who is at the company for nothing more than doing paperwork. Griss herself is a hardy-looking woman, the sort of person who could pull a plow all day and then drop a baby that evening. After taking a few punches from Muhammad Ali.
MaCavity explains that he needs to have some blood identified by her Childe Leo Bjork. Griss says that he should just leave the blood with her, and she will see that Leo gets it. MaCavity mentions that the blood is his own, and that he has been told that giving blood to Tremere is a really bad idea. Though he trusts Leo from his reputation, he doesn't trust her. Griss offers assurances, including offering to return the excess to MaCavity, or having him present when the actual work is done. MaCavity agrees that being present when the work is done is an acceptable solution. Griss promises him a seat in the viewing gallery.
The conversation turns to the matter of payment. They debate the wisdom of exchanging the service for a future favor, which Griss points out will actually be owed to the Chantry, not to either Leo Bjork or herself. MaCavity tries offering some unusual blood as an alternative, but Griss points out that the scientist Tremere are already busy with their own projects, and don't actually need any new ones. He finally agrees that owing a favor to the Chantry is acceptable to him.
Elizabeth Griss asks MaCavity what he wants to learn. MaCavity explains that he is currently known as a Caitiff, and that he does not know who his Sire is. He wants Leo Bjork to determine which Clan he belongs to, and to sign a document to be given to the Prince describing his heritage. He hopes to use this information to get himself membership in one of the Clans. Griss notes that this is thus a fairly important favor.
Allen MaCavity is taken to the observation gallery, where Elizabeth Griss assures him that a technician will be along to get the blood sample. The technician stabs MaCavity directly in the chest and draws out what looks like an awful lot of blood. The technician compliments MaCavity on not doing anything rash or unpleasant during the procedure.
Leo Bjork proves to be a heavy-set white guy with the scraggly remains of a goatee clinging to his chin. He looks much more disreputable than dashing. Much of his equipment is similar to the equipment that Malcolm Carter used, especially the parchment upon which the blood will write, for all that Bjork claims to be some kind of "scientist".
Disappointingly enough, Leo is able to determine that MaCavity is actually a Malkavian. His Sire was the Lurker. The Lurker was Sired by Mikey-Mike-SARAH, who in turn was Sired by Patience. MaCavity is not pleased, but he does remember to get the rest of the blood sample back. He is convinced that the results cannot be right, because he's sure that he isn't insane.
Unsatisfied with the results Leo Bjork has come up with, MaCavity calls up Malcolm Carter to analyze the remainder of the blood sample. MaCavity says that he thinks the blood sample is his own, and that he needs to know if it isn't (he thinks that Leo Bjork slipped a fake sample into the tube because he couldn't possibly be Malkavian).
Excitement builds when Carter says that while the blood in the tube is identical to MaCavity's blood, he gets a different lineage list: instead of Mikey-Mike-SARAH, he gets Sarah-Mikey-MIKE. MaCavity is crestfallen.
Allen MaCavity decides that there is only one possible explanation for these results: he has Malkavian blood, but he's not insane! Malcolm Carter is really eager to believe this idea, and says so. MaCavity is quite eager to believe this, so he doesn't even question Carter's words. To further back up the theory, he points out that one of MaCavity's coterie-mates shot him in the leg, "And how sane is that?" Carter agrees with everything MaCavity says, and then heads out of the building as quickly as he can manage.
Each character gains three experience points. Liam Morgan gets four experience points instead, thanks to his very apropos infiltration idea.