The usual crew turns out for the excitement: Paul (Allen MaCavity), Chuck (Liam Morgan, but not for much longer), Bruce (Jack Rowell), Dan (Oliver Bradford) and Tim (Byron Ignacio). Chris is in charge as usual, even though he accuses Yaggo's Navigators of being former Exxon Captains who prefer to start their day off by getting loaded.
As the game opens, it is July 3rd. The characters are all terribly aware that they must all hide on the morrow, because the mortals will shoot terrible fire into the air.
After some discussion on exactly how much damage Liam Morgan could cause if he were to try to take out the Scourge as hard and as fast as possible, he finally decides to fade away into the night until the effects of his recent diablerie episode are gone. In the interests of long-term chaos, he chooses to Embrace his attractive female police officer ghoul and hit the road, Natural Born Killers style. Most of the players are sure that Chris' lecture on "You should look out for your friends" had some impact in moderating Liam's decisions.
Chuck's new character is Derek Stone. He is Ventrue, and is another of Jon Galliard's old fledglings. He does everything right, including contacting the local Ventrue Primogen Dmitri Meloft upon his arrival in the city to ensure a peaceful reception. The other characters are in due course summoned to the Prince's Court to meet their new companion.
Everyone shows up at the downtown office building and goes through the normal security precautions (in which they give up everything that might even theoretically be a weapon) before they are permitted to go into the presence of Prince Simon Bradford. By the time the characters are cleared to enter, the boardroom is already filled with the normal crowd, including:
Byron Ignatiou instantly hates the Flashman couple, because they act like they like him. Many of the people don't know why he was invited, and he admits (in a harsh, sardonic way) that he doesn't know either.
The Prince tells the character the bad news: yet another wayward friend of Jon Gilliard has appeared, and is asking for his piece of the pie. The Prince then introduces Derek Stone. The characters ignore the way it is convenient that a new guy shows up just as another vanishes.
Derek Stone is a syphilic Wunderkind of the 80's. He looks to be in his early 30's, Caucasian to the point of eugenic excess, with hair beginning to gray. He is clean-cut and respectable, almost too respectable, in a business/professional sort of way. The other characters like him instantly.
The Prince comments that Derek's paperwork is in order and that his claim to the Carter Arms fief is valid, so any disagreements that might happen within the group are their own problem. He then dismisses the group, who file out (with a side trip to the gun check to retrieve their hardware).
Allen MaCavity tries to hang back behind everyone else to get a moment alone with the Prince, but notices that the Flashman see him attempt this and leave the room very slowly. Ignatiou tries to mock them by asking if their feet hurt. Cody Flashman gives Ignatiou a quarter and asks him to buy something respectable to wear. This exchange done, both sides depart satisfied that they have mocked each other.
Finally given a moment alone, MaCavity tells Prince Bradford that he got the blood tests done, and that the Tremere say he has Malkavian blood. He doesn't think this makes much sense, because he isn't crazy. The Prince then asks him, "Are you a vampire?" MaCavity allows as how he is, and that he drinks blood to survive. The Prince suggests that maybe he should just forget this whole Malkavian business and remain Caitiff. MaCavity claims that Malcolm said that the Malkavian blood curse can skip generations, and once again argues that he is that rarest of pearls, a sane Malkavian. The Prince acts unconvinced, though he allows that Malcolm might know more about this sort of thing than he does. He asks if MaCavity wants to start organizing weekly Malkavian meetings. MaCavity indicates that he won't, because he can't stand Malkavians.
After he leaves the Prince's presence, MaCavity is approached by Sphinx. The Nosferatu says, "I couldn't help but hear the tail end of your conversation. I take this to be good news?" Sphinx then suggests that the Nosferatu might be able to provide MaCavity with some information on his heritage. MaCavity explains that though he has a Clan now, which is somewhat good, he's not sure he wants to know specifically who the members of his lineage are (for example, the Lurker, his Sire). Sphinx suggests that knowing something about his Sire and Grandsire is good defensive policy, as it is useful to know if they are going to attack him to befriend him should they ever show up in the city.
The other characters notice that Liz Durden has a single firearm that she packs into a shoulder purse: a .38 with a massive barrel. She turns to Derek Stone and asks, "Are you the sort of person who does the kind of work that some people would call 'murder'?" Stone says that he actually just solves problems, and remains vague upon what kind of problems. She explains that she'll find out the truth eventually, and that she only wants to know because she wants to know what to tell others exactly what the new Ventrue in town does. Stone asks her what she does. She says that she sticks her nose where it doesn't belong, and suffers bad things as a result, but in the process she normally learns important things.
Stone does his best to change the subject by talking about how he met Jon Galliard back in the 70's, before his Embrace, during the retaking of Houston. Dmitri Meloft Embraced Him only later. Liz listens carefully and then departs.
Oliver Bradford arranges for the purchase of three bullet-resistant SUV's. He makes certain to buy them in three different colors and three different brands. Each vehicle costs $70,000. To minimize suspicion, it is actually his production company his corporation MoreMaxx Productions that purchases the vehicles. He anticipates putting lightproof "film lockers" into each of them for emergency vampire storage.
His shopping expedition done, Oliver Bradford sends out some feelers for Blood Adventure arcades in Atlanta, as he thinks that is where Majid's brother may have gone. He finds that there are several arcades owned by the same corporate shell, operating under the names Blood Stone and Blood Creek. There are a total of five sites in Atlanta, not quite as many as there were in Houston before the characters started stomping on them. He also learns that there are a few other outlets in other cities, but that no city has as high a density as either Houston or Atlanta.
Derek Stone asks for an appointment with his Sire, Dmitri Meloft. For his trouble, he is invited to a "gala event" upon the 4th. Unwilling to accept that a newcomer might have more social weight than himself, Jack Rowell arranges to get invited to the same event. Proving that he does have a memory, Meloft asks Rowell if he is going to be as polite to Marda as he was last time, in a tone that Jack takes to be "cautionary". He assures Dmitri that he will redouble his efforts to be nice.
Jack Rowell gives Derek Stone a tour of the 8th floor office in the Colfield Plaza, only after Isaac Purcell has patched up the bullet holes in the drywall. Stone is impressed by the equipment, alarm systems, and concealment available in the office, but alarmed by the fact that the characters don't appear to be using them at the moment. Rowell notes that the office is somewhat widely known, and that he doesn't recommend staying there permanently.
The party is being held out on the grounds of a nice house. Someone has gone too a lot of expense to put floating lanterns on the nearby reflecting pond. There are plenty of folks around, particularly Narda Cash, who makes a point of sneering at Jack Rowell. It is bluntly obvious to Derek Stone that Narda is overreacting to Rowell with dire hatred. Because he knows that Rowell will be his future business partner, Stone does his best to befriend Narda. He does his best to never actually mention Rowell's name.
After thirty minutes of talking to her and her little collection of Toreador friends, Derek Stone realizes that the entire center of Narda's universe is her. Beyond that, the center of her Toreador friends' universe is also her. He isn't sure why, as she seems vapid and dim-witted: even transparent compliments elicit chirps of breathy laughter. Stone suspects that Narda is actually very old, and may just be playing at being vapid. He also suspects that she may know better than to walk into dark fortresses and holes. He also discovers (somewhat to his surprise) that being around her is present, because she makes it easier for him to remember the joys of his mortal days, and the pleasure of talking to a beautiful mortal woman who might be interested in you. Then he remembers that she is a vampire, and couldn't possibly care.
Derek Stone hobnobs with his Sire for some time about the state of the city and relative sanity (or lack thereof) of the vampiric inhabitants. They dwell for some time upon the Malkavian Howard Jacobs, who had been the Malkavian Primogen until his building exploded into fragments, an incident that made it to CNN. Dmitri Meloft also comments upon a gang of ten motorcycle-riding ghouls or Caitiff who had been seen recently around Texas City.
Dmitri Meloft shows Stone around the crowd, his voice glowing with pride over his Childe. It is obvious from the obsequious behavior of the other Kindred in the room that Meloft is the Big Dog among the Houston Ventrue.
Oliver Bradford is at the party as well. He is carefully escorted by his manservant Hecubus, who protects him from the threatening fireworks bursts. He finds the Toreador surgeon Dr. Sebastian Locke discussing sports injuries with Jim Palmer. Bradford joins the conversation, and discovers that most of Dr. Locke's pleasure in sports dates back to the final days of his mortal life, when he was wealthy enough to get box seats at games. Bradford deduces that Locke has only been Kindred for about four or five years.
Byron Ignatiou is also invited. As is his style, he tries to endear himself to the other guests through witty but cutting comments. He finds out that the only people present who actually hate each other are Narda and Jack, and that Jack is actually rather confused as to why Narda hates him so badly. Ignatiou's time is not totally wasted, as Oliver Bradford offers him a job writing nasty articles for the Errol Flynn Fan Club. He notices that when he does manage to make a particularly nasty comment, the recipient often shoots him a gaze that says, "You're going to die soon" and walks away. By the end of the party, he has managed to be so clever that many people don't even realize that he's insulted them until long after he has gone. He leaves with great pride in his heart.
Prince Simon Bradford and his consort Amber Cash make a brief appearance. Oliver Bradford tries to get a quiet moment with Amber to chat her up and find out if the Prince actually did do away with the one-armed renegade vampire David Patchmaier. Amber doesn't know for certain, but she thinks that Prince Bradford just had him staked and put on ice until such time as he might be helpful.
Oliver Bradford is approached by an older woman, someone who has obviously gained great benefit from the arts of the surgeon, who introduces herself as Jan Fine. She asks him if he has his own movie production company, and explains that she makes her own movies. She has seen a number of scripts come across her desk, and wants to know if he is interested in any of them. She asks if he has seen any advertisements for Tropical Condoms - after Bradford says that he hasn't, she explains that they're all over Brazilian TV, and that she did them. She suggests that he should get in contact with her if he needs any talent. Bradford claims that he is interested in finding a cameraman, an effects man, and maybe a mortal director to allow him to shoot outdoors during the day. She invites him on a tour of her local studio (the address is listed on one of the business cards she gives him). She seems fairly happy with the conversation, though she is disappointed that Bradford didn't instantly jump at the chance to hire a vampiric ex-porn star to direct Terminatrix Four.
Jack Rowell's contribution to the party is to walk around and be polite to everyone except Narda (who wouldn't talk to him anyway). His goal is to try and convince some of the other local Ventrue and Toreador that he isn't nearly the miserable burrowing animal they think him to be. He is approached by Alan Fontaine, an individual whose personal style is very similar to that of Derek Stone, with the exception of his hair (which has been somehow enhanced to look unnaturally black and dense). Fontaine says that an associate of his (Sticks) has said that Rowell holds some territory to the east. Fontaine is impressed that Sticks considers the characters to be good neighbors, and that they've managed to keep their side of the bargain, always a challenge when a fief is jointly held by a large number of Kindred.
Fontaine implies that the characters aren't getting much out of their territory and wants to know what it's useful for. Rowell gives him a long speech about embezzling money from the public trust. Fontaine seems to be impressed by this idea, and takes Rowell out to his stretch limo. On the way, the comments that he holds several buildings similar to the Carter Arms in fief, and had been looking for something useful to do with them. He had almost concluded that the only reasonable choice was to have them condemned and knocked down, but has been inspired by Rowell's ideas. He gives Rowell some papers on the Feldman Building, an expansive collection of public housing developments in aggressive disrepair. Rowell makes an informal agreement with Fontaine to work out a plan on how to extract money from these places, with the idea that the two of them will split the proceeds. Rowell tells Fontaine that he will need to have some ghouls dedicated to the project: one respectable guy to act as a front man (and eventually a fall guy), and a couple of alley-bashers to get things done. Fontaine says he has some people in mind, and that he will check back with Rowell in a week to see how things are going.
At this point, Fontaine's cellphone rings. From what Rowell is able to tell from Fontaine's end of the conversation, the caller is doing none too well: "They got you? Did you have the gun on you? No? Good. They got the gun? Bad." After he puts the phone down, Fontaine apologizes to Rowell and explains that he must go. Rowell heads back to the party.
Byron Ignatiou meets Rowell when he returns to the gala and explains that he overheard part of his conversation with Fontaine. Ignatiou admits that he is impressed: "I work to be a bastard, but it just drips out of your pores." Rowell smirks and explains, "That's because I was a public servant. When I was with the GHPHDA I was rated G-24. Base salary for a G-24 is $24K, but I lived in a 3000 square foot house and drove a Crown Victoria."
Oliver Bradford calls up Jack Rowell and Allen MaCavity and tells him that he's going to try and make a peace offering to the Scourge. He intends to give him a phone scrambler. Rowell comments that he's never understood why the characters hated the Scourge so much. He agrees to go along. Derek Stone knows relatively little about the local political landscape, and agrees to come along as a learning experience. Byron Ignatiou volunteers himself to join the group so he can foment discord.
Bradford sets up the meeting for Thursday night (two days from now) at a Subway outlet on the edge of Houston. Derek Stone spends the time in between house hunting for an apartment near the Carter Arms.
On Thursday night, Hecubus drives all the characters out to the Subway shop in one of the MoreMaxx Productions vans. The shop is located inside an Exxon station. A reasonable amount of commercial traffic goes by outside. The characters find Scourge Jeffrey Harper at a corner table in the back of the shop, pretending to eat a sub.
The characters approach the Scourge, with Oliver Bradford in the lead. Bradford slides the scrambler across the table to the Scourge, and then offers some words of apology on behalf of the entire group. He introduces Derek Stone and Byron Ignatiou. The Scourge behaves with great decorum, even to the extent of asking Stone if he is violent and interested in a position in city government.
Bradford, seeing that the conversation is both going well and not suitable for mortal ears, suggests that everyone should take a ride in the van. Scourge Harper calls someone on his cellphone to say that he's going on a ride, and that everything is okay. In the van, Bradford asks Harper if he's got enough people, and if he's having any trouble holding down his position for lack of men or money. Bradford suggests putting a word in with the Prince suggesting that Harper might need some help. Harper acts like he appreciates this, but would actually prefer that Bradford not ask the Prince for help.
At this point, Byron Ignatiou pipes up that he would be willing to help out. Harper asks, "Who are you?" Ignatiou says, "I'm a poet." Harper seems unwilling to believe that Ignatiou would be all that helpful, even after Ignatiou suggests that he's done some target shooting. Harper tries once again to explain that the sort of work he's talking about involves killing Kindred, mostly Sabbat and Caitiff. Ignatiou keeps on, explaining that even though he doesn't want a lot of people to know that he can fight, he can be a ready source of high-intensity violence. He's also interested in finding ways to be useful, which he thinks will improve his life expectancy. Scourge Harper finally decides that Ignatiou might be handy to have around, and takes his phone number.
At this point, Scourge Harper mentions something specific that the characters could help with. He knows of a band of mixed Kindred and ghouls who were living in a trailer park up in Texas City. He managed to raid them, but he only got about five of them, and none of them alive. Picking through the wreckage, he found that they had significant information on MaCavity, Burrell, Rowell and Morgan, including photographs (some good, some bad), addresses in the Colfield Plaza, and generation for Rowell, MaCavity and Morgan. They had the most salient bits posted on a corkboard in a suspiciously War Room-like manner.
He also learned about some alternate locations the gang had scoped out. He's sent some ghouls to look at the places during the day, but they look fairly inactive. Finally, he grabbed some cellphones from the dead in his raid, and is still investigating the numbers he retrieved from them.
Scourge Harper tells the characters that he passed this information on to several people (including the Prince, the Sheriff, and Dmitri Meloft), with a request to pass it along to the characters. The characters note that Dmitri did eventually mention this information (at least in part), but only after they had been attacked at the Colfield Plaza. Neither the Prince nor the Sheriff told them a thing.
Scourge Harper apologizes for the fact that the outriders attacked the characters before his warning arrived. Rowell tries to reassure him that it wasn't his fault: he trusted the Prince, the Sheriff and Meloft to pass the information along and they didn't. Harper admits that he didn't talk to either the Prince or the Sheriff directly (he never talks to the Sheriff directly). He explains further that he's not supposed to tell people warnings directly, filtering them instead through the Prince and the Sheriff: the Prince had told him that the last couple of Scourges didn't work out well because they couldn't keep their mouths closed.
Bradford goes back to his original theme and offers to act as an intermediary between the Scourge and the Prince to try and get the Scourge more help. As before, Scourge Harper seems more threatened than pleased by this suggestion. In an effort to calm the waters and hold Bradford back, Rowell suggests that the Prince might be using the office of Scourge to neutralize young, promising Kindred, and that any request for help could be seen as a sign of weakness and vulnerability instead. Scourge Harper agrees that asking for help might be a way to get him taken out and shot, especially if he's not doing a good job now: more resources are good, but asking the Prince for them is a bad idea. Rowell, Stone and Ignatiou all suggest that they're willing to help the Scourge on the side. Rowell comments that he's got a lot of public-servant type friends, and can get Harper access to vehicles, or hide his people in large, deserted warehouses full of things purchased on the public account. Harper seems to think that this might actually be useful.
Harper pulls out some information, including names and addresses for the phone numbers stored on the cellphones captured from the outsider ghouls. The first six match the numbers the characters already have. The remainder are new, and include:
Scourge Harper promises further help in the future, should he get any new information, provided the characters don't brag about anything he's provided him.
The characters can't help but note that the Scourge didn't attend Dmitri Meloft's party on the 4th. The Scourge rather acidly points out that he was "working."
Byron Ignatiou asks Scourge Harper if he can provide any suggestions on folks who can teach him Potence. He suggests the Nosferatu Sally, but warns Ignatiou that she hates everyone who is more attractive than she is (which is everyone). He predicts that Ignatiou will have more problems than most, given that his Appearance is 4.
Derek Stone looks at a series of motels and apartment buildings in the Carter Arms fief. He discards the hourly- and weekly-rate places right off, and ends up settling on something some distance away from the fief where most of the residents are burger-flippers and welfare recipients. He furnishes the place with scavenged furniture, and spends a limited amount of time fixing it up (primarily by light-proofing the windows).
The characters debate how best to investigate the addresses Scourge Harper left them. Both Jack Rowell and Derek Stone hit their various sources.
Suzanne Cox retired from a career with the DMV after thirty-five years of service (Stone was able to find a copy of her 35-year Service Certificate online). Her current address is in a fenced community for retired folks. It has on-site nursing, individual houses for the residents, and so on.
Farbo Bowl-A-Rama has been around for about thirty years. It is located in a part of town dominated by restaurants, strip malls, and apartment complexes. Based on it's age, it may be somewhat rundown. The game master assures the players that it is simply a coincidence that it's age and Ms. Cox's career are of similar length.
Lewis Pullman's houseboat has been at it's present mooring for quite a while. Pullman actually gets his mail there (he has an address at the dock). It isn't' clear what he actually does for a living.
Public phone listings do not appear to actually connect to any of these addresses.
Derek Stone suggests heading to the Bowl-A-Rama to see if it really is a bowling alley. At this point, it's about 03:00 and the bowling alley is already closed for the night, so Stone heads to the local Super Wal-Mart with Oliver Bradford to pick up appropriate bowling clothes for himself and for Byron Ignatiou.
Byron Ignatiou calls the number Scourge Jeffrey Harper gave him for Sally. He reaches a guy at a bar who promises to get her in touch with him. Sally calls him back, at which point Ignatiou gives his pitch for why Sally should teach him Potence. She gives him an address and tells him to come by in about an hour.
Byron Ignatiou shows up at the address, which proves to be a somewhat seedy-looking bar. Sally appears a bit later, and oddly enough looks completely normal (probably indicating that she is Obfuscating). She doesn't appear to have realized that just because you have ten fingers doesn't mean you need ten rings.
Byron asks her to teach him Potence. She asks, "Why the fuck should I even care what you want?" Byron suggests that money is a potentially valid reason, one that might even overwhelm the fact that he's a Toreador. He points out that if she's not interested in dealing, he can just walk away. Sally shoots back: "I didn't say that, I just wanted to know why I should care." He also offers to teach her Celerity. She agrees that a Potence-Celerity exchange would be good. She then expectorates a huge, mucous-laden glob of spittle into her hand and suggests that Byron shake. Byron shudders, then shakes.
Satisfied that the deal has been sealed, Sally asks Ignatiou, "You got time? I could show you Potence right now." Byron says that he doesn't, at which point she starts squeezing his hand. She finally lets go and leads him to the back door of the bar, heads to a manhole on a back alley, and says, "After you". Ignatiou scampers down, using a lighter to see his way. They end up in a section of sewers, where she teaches him some Potence tips. He ends up spending four hours playing around in the muck.
Eventually, Byron manages to convince Sally that they can just as easily practice in his garage. She is quite happy to move venue, though she's not too enthusiastic about the practice mats and padded sparring bats he's got.
Byron Ignatiou shows up late for his appointment to go bowling with Derek Stone. He rather lamely apologizes, explaining that he got into a fight with a Nosferatu. Stone gives him a bottle of Aqua-Velva and a pile of clothes and tells him to get cleaned up. Ignatiou isn't too happy at the idea of wearing a NASCAR t-shirt, but he eventually goes along with it.
The remaining characters hang out in front of the place in cars. They are well equipped with guns, police scanners, and radios.
It turns out that the characters have seriously overplanned. The bowling alley is nothing more than a bowling alley. Byron Ignatiou wins the game rather handily, at least in part because Derek Stone's game was a long collection of errors and screwups. Ignatiou finally listens to Stone's demands to "best two out three"; Derek Stone tries to tilt the field in his favor by spending blood on his DEX, to no avail.
The remaining two addresses are also unexceptional. The retirement community is nothing special. The residents all go to sleep at 20:00 and are up at 04:00, prompting several characters to think about feeding ("But what if you catch their oldness, dude!") The only thing that distinguishes the houseboat is the fact that the owner likes to drink a lot. The houseboat itself is pretty run-down.
Having failed to find any clues at the three addresses, the characters bow to Oliver Bradford's desire to use one of the captured cellphones to place a faked distress call. He hopes to lure some of the remaining outsider gang members out to an isolated location and do terrible things to them. His chosen site is a junkyard on the edge of the city, specifically the one where the characters trapped Majid's car. He prepares the site by placing an EMP barrier over the gate and the rest of the characters around the entryway with guns. Jack Rowell mans the EMP device because he has three dice to shoot a gun ("THREE!"). Allen MaCavity uses his Obfuscate to make himself look like one of the gang members the characters fought with at the Colfield Plaza.
With everything at the ready, Bradford calls the number on the phone and tries to pass himself off as "Ron", who got his ass kicked a week ago and who has been hiding out at a junkyard. He says that he hasn't seen the guys who beat him up, and thinks that he managed to lose them. The guy who responds, "Roy", agrees to come out and pick him up.
The characters spend an hour and a half waiting. Finally, a motorcycle pulls up outside the junkyard. The cyclist dismounts, walks in, and calls, "Ron! You here! Come out or I'm going to leave your bleeding ass out here!" By this time, two of the characters have trained sniper rifles on the fellow's legs and Byron Ignatiou is aiming at the rear wheel of the cycle.
Allen MaCavity appears and distracts Roy's attention for long enough to allow the other characters to get their shots off. The man yells out and falls with blood spraying from his wounded leg. The cycle is crippled. Derek Stone sneaks out towards the gate to see if anybody else is around. He sees a guy on a big hog turning around and speeding off. Stone opens up with his Weatherby and nicks him. The biker continues into the distance, paying little attention to Stone's ineffective followup shots ("Ow! My bones!").
While Derek Stone peppers away at the fleeing biker, Bradford reflects that the wounded biker might die before his bleeding can be brought back under control. He is initially not too worried about this, as he's convinced that the fellow is a vampire. Byron Ignatiou (equipped with Auspex) points out that this isn't true: the guy is mortal. At this point, both Bradford and MaCavity feel the Auspex-induced twinges of immanent danger. They run for cover, Bradford dragging stumpy-boy behind him. Ignatiou rather belatedly realizes that the other two might be running for a reason, and follows them posthaste. At this point, the biker's saddlebags explode in a burst of flame and phosphorous. Bradford, MaCavity and Ignatiou all suffer aggravated damage.
Jack Rowell and Derek Stone both see the flames and fall into Rotschreck. Byron Ignatiou, Oliver Bradford and Allen MaCavity all manage to control themselves. Rowell spends Willpower to make sure that his route takes him through the junkyard, rather than across the freeway and into the open. Stone does the same.
Bradford continues to his van with the downed biker over his shoulder. Everyone else heads towards their own vehicles. From behind, they hear the sounds of motorcycles entering the junkyard. Bradford, slowed by the weight of the body, lags behind the other characters rather badly. Hecubus, already waiting in the van, starts up the motor. Ignatiou gets to the van first and tells Hecubus "Your boss said to ram them!"
Allen MaCavity, realizing that the operator of the EMP barrier has already fled in Rotschreck, heads back to man the barrier.
The first vehicle through is a heavy truck. The second is a large car. After that a group of motorcycles pulls in. MaCavity only manages to make it to the EMP barrier after the last motorcycles enter. He turns the barrier on, hoping that he isn't too late.
Hecubus realizes what's happening. Urged on by Ignatiou (who abandons the van) he throws the van into reverse and tries to make it to safety. The big truck hits the van, stops it, and pushes it back into a pile of crushed car parts. Goons swarm out around the van and pepper it with automatic weapon fire, probably finishing off Hecubus.
Oliver Bradford leaps to fire at the gangsters, felling one of them before he takes a full-auto burst right in the wishbone. He collapses after taking eight levels of damage. Seeing the horrible fate of his friend, Byron Ignatiou leaps out of cover to gun down another goon, firing wildly as he runs around the perimeter of the truck. Allen MaCavity stands and watches, looking for an opening.
Ignatiou sneaks around the truck and fires on a gangster, then suffers a dramatic setback as a guy sitting in the bed of the truck drops a grenade on him. He is mauled by the explosion (technically speaking), and decides to follow the path that Rowell and Stone have already blazed by running away (with apologies to Bradford and MaCavity).
At this point, the tone of the battle shifts. All of the combatants realize that they are too wounded to engage in brash heroics, so they fall to sneaking around dropping ambushes on each other. MaCavity manages to sneak down to the nearby 4-door sedan the gangsters brought. He fixes the accelerator with a stick and sends it down the way to crash into the ruins of the truck. This causes a lot of excitement, but doesn't keep Bradford from falling afoul of two gangsters who drive him into torpor.
Byron Ignatiou, realizing that he is a badly-wounded vampire with three aggravated wounds and only four blood carrying two assault rifles, calls the Scourge on his cellphone for help. The Scourge promises to show up as soon as he can, along with as many guys as he can find. Ignatiou spends most of the conversation babbling in pain and hunger.
About twenty minutes after the gunfire ceases, Byron Ignatiou hears vehicles leaving the junkyard. Somewhat afterwards, he gets a call back. The Scourge tells him that he has men covering the two entrances, and says that they haven't seen anyone. Ignatiou fills him in on the gangsters' vehicles. The Scourge tells him to head to one of the entrance and make contact with his men.
Allen MaCavity drives hard out of the junkyard, changing identities like handkerchiefs, desperate to lose anyone who might be following him. Once he is satisfied that not even a Nosferatu Elder could have followed him, he returns to his Haven.
Both Jack Rowell and Derek Stone emerge from Rotschreck somewhere outside the junkyard. Both of them have managed to misplace their cellphones, headsets and firearms (with the exception of Stone's rifle). Rowell is quite happy to realize that he still has his pants. Rowell locates a major road and hitchhikes his way back to the Colfield Plaza. Stone hunts around until he finds a car, then steals it and takes it back to the junkyard entrance. He waits for about five minutes. At that point he sees a pair of minivans carrying professional-looking fellows with assault rifles approach. They stop some distance from the front entrance, dismount, and cover the entrance.
The Scourge's additional troops arrive later: two more minivans plus a Brinks van. They drive around through the junkyard. They report that the big truck is still there. Hecubus has been shot and had his throat torn out. Four cycles and the car are gone. There are a total of six gangster bodies, probably all mortal. Bradford's body is gone. They don't find any resistance.
Byron Ignatiou describes the group's plan to the Scourge, including his current opinion that he is the only surviving member of his coterie. The Scourge is appalled that the gangsters were able to eliminate four Kindred so easily.
Byron Ignatiou happens to notice a pile of dust roughly in the shape of a person near the wreckage of the truck. He points it out to the Scourge as "probably one of us." The Scourge yells out, "Hey! Mike! Come get something to pick up dust!" Ignatiou and the Scourge are able to identify the dust as Oliver Bradford's remains based upon the contents of his wallet.
Ignatiou calls up MaCavity (and is surprised when someone answers) and tells him, "Hey! We're shy a pompous twit!"
No cops ever appear on the scene: Scourge Harper suspects that nobody ever complained about the gunfire.
The characters eventually reassemble at Colfield Plaza. Several characters spend a lot of their time hunting over the next several nights, trying to recover from the effects of multiple aggravated wounds.
The session ends with Oliver Bradford dead beyond restoration and the remaining characters regrouped back in the Colfield Plaza. Each character gains four experience points. Byron Ignaciou spends six experience buying Alertness, Athletics and Self-Control to 2 dots each.