Most of the usual crowd manifests: Tim (Shepherd), Nick (Vincent "I have no spine" Cray), Jade (Jeordaine), and Bruce (Cyrus Billings). Charlene (Elizabeth Triem) doesn't appear, and it isn't clear that she is ever going to appear again.
It is the Tuesday after the Tremere meeting in which Vincent was told that Ian Cambridge had moved back into San Antonio. For those who don't remember, Ian is the Toreador who had been exiled from Austin after attacking another Toreador at a party he organized at the Museum of Tiny Things. Just to make things interesting, Ian was exiled primarily due to the actions of Elizabeth Triem, who was really trying very hard to curry favor with the Prince of Austin.
Shepherd is going about his normal routine when he realizes he has a tremendous desire to go somewhere. He only recognizes this after getting into his car and starting the engine. Searching for some kind of useful response, he calls Cyrus Billings on his cellphone and says, "Hello, Cyrus. I'm heading towards the Southwest corner of town and I don't know why." Cyrus agrees to tail him, and quickly catches up to him in his reworked surplus police cruiser.
Along the way, Shepherd uses his Obfuscate powers to make himself look like a passing middle-aged Hispanic woman. Thus disguised, he pulls up to a house with a large yard dotted with specimens of American kitsch statuary: little black jockeys holding lanterns, flamingos, gnomes, whatnot. He goes up to the door, knocks, and is rewarded by the sound of multiple locks being opened. The door opens to reveal an old woman who looks like everybody's Grandma. She invites him inside, then hits him over the head three times with a book until he drops the Obfuscate disguise. At this point, Shepherd recognizes her as Belle, of Clan Malkavian.
She leads him into a sitting room full of ancient, spindly furniture covered in plastic. The décor is dominated by little knick-knacks and collectibles, which consume every flat surface. The rest of the room is occupied by every other local member of the Malkavian Clan, except for Screaming Joe. Once Shepherd has taken the last available seat, Belle starts the interminable process of serving tea to everyone. Most of those present make some kind of effort to act polite.
As the meeting starts, a horde of cats enters the room. It becomes quickly obvious that they are responsible for a thick layer of cat hair that adheres to every surface available.
Belle starts up, "Weeeeell, I'm so glad that all of my family could be here. I hear that some of you have been up to some new things," (with a pointed stare at Shepherd, "…new house, new parents, maybe even a new car." Shepherd denies everything, at which point Belle says, "You shouldn't lie to Grandma," and leaves the room, talking of how her family doesn't love her anymore, not like her old family (at least before she fed them to the cats).
Once Belle is gone, Professor Brain takes a small box out of his briefcase and adjusts a control on it. The cats all run screaming. After that, the remaining Malkavians speak of what they've been up to. The rather thuggish Remo talks about a run-in with some shadow-throwing folks who made him crash his car, bringing a similar previous incident to Shepherd's mind. Shepherd talks about how his coterie has gotten a couple of new members, Elizabeth and Jeordaine. Brain boasts of how he has made a new security device that looks like a child's radio-controlled car, but which will explode under any number of stimuli (including nothing). Apparently the core of the thing is a block of about 4 oz of C4.
Brain also tells Shepherd about Brett Meyers, a spelunker who will be in San Antonio in the next week. According to Brain, Mr. Meyers has spent a lot of time investigating caves around Texas and Mexico. Brain wants Shepherd to kidnap Meyers so he can study his brain waves and make a machine to do what he does. Brain also wants to Blood-Bond Meyers, so he will be able to take advantage of his services sometime later. Shepherd claims that he's willing to do this, but wants a dossier on him. Brain suggests that he look up a National Geographic issue from sometime last year: it has an article featuring him and some cave fish.
Remo had mentioned to Shepherd that he wanted to show him something. After Shepherd finishes talking to Brain, he heads off with Remo. They get into Remo's yellow Mustang and head out to the hill country, eventually driving over rougher and rougher roads. Because Remo refuses to slow down, the impacts against the bottom of the Mustang become more and more severe and the car's engine becomes more and more labored. Finally, Remo leads Shepherd into a crude cave that he lights with an ancient hurricane lantern. Shepherd first becomes aware that there is something hanging from the ceiling. He then realizes that the ceiling of the cave is festooned with blonde hair, some of it very old and some of it with bits of scalp still attached. Remo then proceeds to spend three hours telling Shepherd about how he collects blonde hair. Shepherd only barely manages to remain civil during this stomach-turning diatribe.
After Remo finishes, they return to Remo's car. Remo asks him, "So, what's your hobby?" Shepherd makes a comment about how he takes he ghoul out to the dump to shoot things, then recognizes that Remo is very disappointed: he just shared something very special, and all Shepherd did was talk about gunning down rodents. The trip back is very quiet. Shepherd tries to salvage the situation by talking about some mission he was on as a CIA agent, which doesn't help at all.
After Remo drives away, Shepherd remembers that he wanted to ask Remo about how he got messed up with Obtenebration-induced car accidents, but completely forgot.
After his mandatory meeting with the rest of the Tremere, Vincent retires to the library to learn rituals and fume over his failure to pass the test to advance to the Second Circle of Initiation. He remembers that just before he went into the testing room, one of the Chantry ghouls brushed past him and he felt a sharp sting and started to lose concentration. Though he doesn't know exactly what happened, he suspects Beezel and proceeds to develop a poisonous hatred towards him. He knows that the ghouls of the Chantry are maintained jointly by Beezel, Richard and Natasha, and are fed a sorcerously-combined mixture of their blood that makes them fanatically loyal to their three masters and the Tremere as a whole.
As he sits in the library fuming, Isaac (the voodoo-influenced Tremere) walks up and sounds out Vincent's willingness to go to El Paso to retrieve the bodies of several Indian shamans who recently died. There are several complications: El Paso is a contested town, the bodies are actually buried out in the wilderness on a reservation, and the reservation is located within Mexico proper. Isaac notes that he sent a moderately-reliable black mortal lieutenant of his and several gang members about three months ago. They didn't come back. He then hired some Hispanic guys with good desert survival skills. They didn't come back either. Isaac also admits that he doesn't know exactly where the bodies are placed, though most of the locals will. He suggests using Dominate. Isaac wants the bodies, plus the ceremonial burial garb. He acknowledges that this may take some time, and may require some added help: he offers two Hispanic ghouls and some black ghouls who can speak Spanish well (but who will stick out a bit around El Paso). Isaac notes that Shepherd (one of Vincent's compatriots) does owe him for an exorcism. Vincent claims to be willing to do this, but wants a favor in return: he says he thinks that someone wants to keep him from succeeding, and wants Isaac to find out who it is. Vincent implies that he suspects Beezel. Isaac acts shocked that such things might happen in the Tremere, but agrees to look around.
Vincent talks to his ghoul Jimmy. He asks him to purchase a plot of about an acre of land somewhere in West Texas, and have a bolt-hole built on it. The bolt-hole should be completely buried, with a concealed entrance and reinforced concrete walls, floor and ceiling. Vincent notes that creature comforts are not necessary, and that the chamber should be at least 7' by 7' by 7'. Jimmy says it'll take him a couple of weeks to make the arrangements, and notes that he really doesn't want to know why Vincent wants it. Vincent agrees that Jimmy doesn't want to know.
All the characters meet up at Chapman's Champion Firearms to talk about heading off to El Paso and other things. As an intro, Shepherd warns Jeordaine that Elizabeth should be careful around Remo, who appears to collect blonde scalps.
Jeordaine shows off a list of extremely fancy guns that he claims to have access to, and tries to find out if any of the other characters might be interested in some of them. It appears that these guns are all currently possessed by other people, and that Jeordaine may need to lift them to provide them.
Shepherd mentions Brain's desire to have the spelunker Brett Meyers kidnapped. Shepherd attempts to convince everyone that this is a good thing to do, because Brain is a "useful" Malkavian who would then owe Shepherd a favor. Jeordaine thinks of this as tremendously funny, and starts to make the shadows splurk around behind him. Vincent points out that the group already owes favors to Brain, so the payback they could get for this is fairly small. It becomes more and more obvious that neither Jeordaine nor Vincent trust each other at all.
Vincent convinces Cyrus to head off to El Paso with him. "We are going to El Paso. We are going to Mexico." is Cyrus' colorful discussion on the subject. Other members of the group are a touch more reserved, as they are not too sure what they'll get out of it. Jeordaine in particular is not enthusiastic: he doesn't really want to make the Tremere stronger, he's heard that Indian shamans have odd powers, and he fully expects that the reservation is overrun with lupines. Jeordaine holds out for a better price. Shepherd makes a rather lame attempt to offer Jeordaine some better benefits: "I can get you a lot of guns, and I can get you some legal help… but only for civil suits…" Jeordaine points out that he's currently fairly poor on cash, but could get upwards of $30,000 for a night's work involving only mortals. They finally negotiate the following deal:
Shepherd gives Theodore Lippo, his ghouled lawyer, orders to learn something about Brett Meyers and his trip to San Antonio. Lippo returns a dossier obviously assembled by the young son of his intern. The dossier includes a lot of detail upon Meyers' trips to South American cave systems, the fact that he's a fairly religious guy, the hotel he's staying in, and the fact that his fiancée is staying with him. He will be arriving in town on Saturday, has a meeting with Spelunkers from 18:00 to 19:00, then around 21:00 to 01:00 is supposed to be signed on to an AOL chat room, talking to other spelunkers on the net.
Prior to the big day, Jeordaine sneaks into a computer parts supply store and acquires enough parts to build himself a really, really nice computer. He also Conjures a listening device on Friday night, with the plan of being able to slip it into someone's pocket later on. He tests it by attaching it to a small animal, and finds that it works beautifully.
Jeordaine starts off the attempt by calling up Meyers' hotel room, to find out if he's there. He ends up talking to a woman who claims that Meyers is feeling a bit under the weather, and can't come to the phone. During the conversation, Shepherd and Vincent Obfuscate and sneak up to the room. Meanwhile, Cyrus waits in a car down by the back entrance of the hotel with the engine on. About twenty minutes after Jeordaine's phone call, Shepherd and Vincent see a man and a woman emerge from the room and head down to the lobby. Shepherd takes this opportunity to sneak into their room. He looks for a computer, but doesn't find one among their various luggage.
Vincent calls down to Cyrus to warn him that they're coming, and should be ready to tail them. It isn't too difficult for him to tail them, as they become lost and drive around aimlessly for about a half hour. They finally pull into an Outback Steakhouse after a dramatic right-turn-across-three-lanes maneuver. While they eat, Vincent shows up to try and Dominate one or both of them. He waits until the finance goes to the restroom, then stands by a nearby payphone waiting for her. He Dominates her to be silent and quiet the next time she sees him.
After their meal, they return briefly to their hotel room, then Meyers' heads out again. The fiancée simply goes to sleep. Shepherd stays in the hotel room, while Vincent trails Meyers, who goes downstairs to a conference room where a couple of guys have a laptop set up. Vincent watches from Obfuscated safety while the two techies painfully try to guide Meyers (who can't even type, let alone use a computer) through the four-hour ordeal of the chat session. Vincent finally Dominates the guy just before he walks into his hotel room. Vincent Dominates both Meyers and his finance: he makes the finance remember how Meyers has repeatedly had affairs with other women, engineering a "virtual lovers' spat" that ends with Meyers stalking out of the room saying, "This doesn't make me happy. Hawaii. Tahiti. That'll make me happy." He then simply walks off with Meyers.
Once they have Meyers in their possession, Shepherd arranges a rendezvous with Brain in a Wal-Mart parking lot. They show up to find him standing next to Remo near a rather large car. Shepherd explains how they got him away from his fiancée, and Brain offers Shepherd compliments upon his reliability. They deliver Meyers and drive away. In parting, Shepherd happens to notice that Meyers has mid-length blonde hair, and feels a pang of guilt.
The characters consider the equipment they want to have to head to El Paso, and decide to spend a couple of months putting it all together. Vincent whines about having to spend a lot of money, but eventually agrees to set up a lease for a disused garage and a check to pay for equipment for Jeordaine. Shepherd purchases a used van for modification, and Cyrus purchases a junker car and a good engine for his own vehicle. Jeordaine spends a lot of time working on armoring the van and car, and making sure they they're in good condition. He also accumulates a supply of spare parts for them, to be carried in the van.
Jeordaine performs a jewelry heist and a firearms heist to raise some money both for himself and the trip. He has an opportunity to exercise a number of his more unusual Discipline choices in the process, and encounters no difficulties more severe than a pack of watchdogs. After fencing them, he clears about $18,000. He tries to fence some of the guns through Don Chapman, Shepherd's ghoul. Don thinks that selling them soon would be a bad idea, but is willing to get a license to sell them in some faraway state and have a shot at selling them in a few months. By way of thanks, Jeordaine gives him the choice of one of the rifles, which Don deeply appreciates.
Vincent, mindful of the fact that the characters have been pegged as "outsiders" pretty regularly in every other town they've visited, arranges a six-month lease on a condo in El Paso through an intermediary.
Shepherd calls up Tyler, the gunslinging Malkavian in Jacquerdo, to try and get some information about the situation in El Paso from him. Once he gets in touch with Tyler, he immediately spills out the fact that he's interested in going to El Paso, and wants to know what's going on around there. Tyler says that he'll try to find something out, but would really like to know what's up with Shepherd's Sire in return. Shepherd agrees, then heads by to visit Screaming Joe's mansion, which he finds has been bulldozed. Shepherd calls up Shepherd's number, and is answered by a functionary who won't put him in touch with Screaming Joe.
Shepherd gives the phone number to Cyrus and asks him to learn something about it. Cyrus gets in touch with his friends at the SAPD, and learns that it is a cellphone, registered to a Frank Zumbo, who lives at 1818 Mangrove Place. The number has been in service for about three months. Cyrus drives by the address, and finds that it is a house on a fairly large yard. The grass in the yard is at least a foot high, and conceals a nest of easily twenty or thirty rattlesnakes, several of which attempt rather fruitlessly to hurt Cyrus. The house itself is up on blocks, and is quite well-protected: the windows are shuttered with metal shutters, and the door shows evidence of many locks. The garbage can is overflowing with delivery food containers. Cyrus tries to interrogate some of the local animals to learn how long things have been like this, but learns only that rattlesnakes are really stupid and most animals don't have much memory. Cyrus leaves in relative disgust.
Days after Cyrus returns, Shepherd encounters Screaming Joe in a dream. Shepherd immediately falls into bootlicking mode, complimenting Screaming Joe upon his commitment to sponging the last vestiges of Shepherd's humanity away. Screaming Joe demurs, but Shepherd continues on, making it very clear that he wants Screaming Joe to teach him some kind of Path. Joe is skeptical of Shepherd's request, "So, you imagine that I'll hold some kind of regular class, that you'd show up every morning freshly scrubbed, that ever so often I'd give you grades?" Shepherd continues to press Joe, perhaps beyond all rationality. Joe suggests that Shepherd make two lists: one of everything he likes in life, and one of everything he doesn't. When this is done, he should get back in touch with Screaming Joe again, and set aside about five years on his calendar.
Finally, Shepherd tells Joe that he's planning on going to El Paso soon. While all the other players hit their heads and moan, Shepherd continues on, asking if Screaming Joe can tell him what he needs to know to not get himself killed. Joe claims that, "if you go there, members of the Camarilla will try to use you, while the Sabbat will either kill you or recruit you. There are werewolves around, but you only need to worry about them around the Indian reservations. The local Indians include two types of mages, the good kind who help their families and have powers we find very painful. Then there are the skinwalkers, who are just evil and also painful to us, but the werewolves and shamans tend to kill them off quickly. Lone Indians wandering around in the bush are probably werewolves, or maybe just hitchhikers. Silver bullets are a really nice thing to carry along."
Shepherd finally tries to get Screaming Joe to tell him where he is. Screaming Joe is only willing to say that he isn't in San Antonio. Screaming Joe then Dominates Shepherd into telling him why he wants to know where he is. Shepherd, his mental defenses crumpling under this assault like a paper cup in a rottweiler's jaws, immediately spills his guts, admitting that he made a deal with Tyler. Screaming Joe pats Shepherd on the head, says, "I know I made the right choice when I picked you," and departs, leaving Shepherd back in a dream where he bakes under the hot sun.
When Shepherd gets back in touch with Tyler, he is forced to admit that he wasn't able to learn where Screaming Joe is. Tyler accepts this, but demands something else in return: either kill several people, or get some pictures published in a high-profile manner. Shepherd admits that he can't kill, but can try to get the pictures published. Tyler notes that this needs to be untraceable, as the pictures will be very embarrassing to someone. He does comment that they won't be directly damaging to Prince David. Because this is a fairly large request, Tyler says that he can get a lot of information to Shepherd, and can get Jaime and his sister to accompany the characters to El Paso. Shepherd finally wimps out and asks Tyler to give him a day before sending the pictures. A day later, he explains that he can't actually get the pictures published cleanly, so the deal is off. Tyler accepts this with slightly poor grace, but does go away.
Vincent, upon hearing the details of Shepherd's rather unusual dream, heads directly to the Tremere library to learn how to fight lupines. He manages to find a book written by a Tremere Elder about his short, 20-year battle against a lupine tribe in the Southeastern United States. The book tells him:
Vincent leaves the library totally convinced that the entire group is going to get slaughtered if they go to El Paso.
Cyrus talks to the local Gangrels, trying to learn if any of them know anything about what's going on in El Paso. The best he can do is Cindy, who was last in touch with Gangrels out that way about five years ago. She notes that most of these folks aren't the type to answer phones, and are about as reliable as Gangrels tend to be. She tells Cyrus that one of them is Festus, who travels all up and down the Rio Grande valley in the role of a grizzled prospector (he actually does do some prospecting). She asks for some information in return, but Cyrus (unwilling to reveal anything) simply asks to owe her. He does offer to get nonstandard auto work done for her in recompense, but she demurs.
About three weeks later, Cindy comes back with some information:
Cyrus thanks Cindy for her information, and bids her farewell.
Vincent gets a cheap tabloid newspaper in the mail sometime after Shepherd's conversation with Tyler. Most of the newspaper is unremarkable, except for one series of photographs depicting someone licking blood from a dead man's torn-out throat. These photographs, while not good enough to clearly show the identities of the attacker or the victim, are much better than all of the other photographs. The caption on the article is, "Vampires Rampage in Houston!" A couple of days later, Vincent learns through the grapevine that Houston has been overrun by Archons who previously had been investigating doings on down along the Mexican border, in a town called Jacquerdo. Vincent breathes a sigh of relief that he's not living in Houston.
When he hears about this, Shepherd thinks, "Woops, I bet Screaming Joe sent those Archons down to Jacquerdo just because I admitted I cut a deal with Tyler. I'm glad I didn't publish those pictures for Tyler."
Vincent mentions to Isaac some of the things he and other characters have learned about the situation in El Paso. Isaac admits that it is possible that his guys ran into lupines, and agrees to give Vincent two Wards Against Lupines. Isaac explains that the wards are mostly effective, but sometimes lupines are actually able to pierce them. Also, the warded area is defined by a circle laid down on the ground, and the lupines can attack the circle if they think of it.
Each character gains five experience points.