All the normal folks show up: Tim (Shepherd), Nick (Vincent Cray), Bruce (Cyrus Billings), Charlene (Elizabeth Triem), and Jade (Jeordaine). In addition, Gareth shows up, though I don't know what he's playing offhand.
Shepherd uses some of his experience to purchase Willpower 9. Cyrus Billings persuades Otto to teach him Potence 2, costing him 7 experience. Vincent Cray purchases his third dot in Thaumaturgy for 10 experience, prompting Jeordaine to note that Vincent has almost managed to reach his own level of expertise (he has four). Vincent simpers in resentment.
During the time the characters are preparing to head to El Paso, they learn that the city has fallen to the Sabbat. This makes many matters much simpler, as the characters reason that they won't need to worry about Camarilla politics in a besieged city when they arrive. Instead, they'll just have to worry about the fact that the entire Kindred population will want to do them in.
Vincent checks once again with his ghoul to confirm that the group will have a condominium waiting for them when they arrive. To disguise their presence, Vincent's ghoul has arranged to make it look like someone has been living in the place for the past two months. He also checks over the two Wards Against Lupines given him by Isaac. The wards are knives, and can be used in combat for STR+1 damage. Finally, he takes a look in the Tremere library for any information he can find on the Sabbat. From the books he has access to, he learns:
Vincent also makes certain to ask his superiors among the local Tremere, particularly Nastasha, for permission to leave the city for a while. He explains that he and his coeterie want to head out to El Paso to perform reconnaissance, noting that it's not a good thing to be unaware of developments there for long periods of time, considering the way the situation is developing. Nastasha's credulous response, "So, tell me. You've been planning on heading off to El Paso to kill and torture Sabbat for the last three months? I remember coming up with similar plans in my impetuous youth. Feel free to go." She cautions him that there are two probable new dangers: First, now that the Sabbat has managed to remove the Camarilla from the city all the local Sabbat with Presence and Dominate are probably running rampant through the local city officials. Second, witch-hunters have probably been drawn to the area like moths to a flame. This latter trouble is of more concern to the characters than the Sabbat, as Nastasha's few interactions with witch-hunters suggests that the successful ones prefer to fight the Camarilla over the Sabbat, given the rather apocalyptic nature of Sabbat responses to attacks.
Elizabeth, who has been out of the area for some time, returns to her haven in New Braunfels, promptly warning Duke Don that she has returned. In the process of unpacking (equipment, cash, whatnot), she notices that she has a quite vivid premonition of death whenever she puts the key into the ignition of her Cherokee. Thanking the unholy powers that gave her a dot in Auspex, she leaves the vehicle very carefully and contacts Jeordaine, who is working in the garage Vincent provided for him.
Forty minutes later, Jeordaine shows up at Elizabeth's haven. He uses his Demolitions to check out the car. After spending about an hour crawling around underneath the vehicle, he locates a bomb in the carbuerator. The device is not large, just about big enough to set off the fuel in the engine and create a nice-sized explosion. Suffering from a sudden attack of suspicion, Jeordaine heads into the house and uses Visceratika to try and find Obfuscated spies in the area. He finds none.
Thinking for a moment, Jeordaine notes that the bomb must have been commissioned by Ian Cambridge, the Toreador Elizabeth had previously gotten exiled from Austin for violating the Elysium.
Shepherd arranges for his ghoul Don Chapman, proprietor of Chapman's Champion Firearms to look for some weapons to use against the Sabbat. Don manages to come up with:
Cyrus looks through the gear in the trunk of his car, consults with Shepherd, and elects to add two dozen stakes, a police scanner and a dozen body bags to the list.
The characters intend to bring along three vehicles: a custom armor-plated van modified by Jeordaine, a rebuilt surplus police cruiser provided by Cyrus, and the car driven by Isaac's ghouls.
Just before departure, Vincent meets with Isaac in a parking lot. Isaac gives Vincent a phone number for the ghouls he had promised. Isaac says that he's providing two ghouls, both Hispanic and fluent in Spanish. They will be moderately armed, equipped with reasonable armor, and in their own vehicle.
A day or so later, Vincent notes that he's about $5000 shy in his accounts. Vincent's ghoul Jimmy, on being asked, explains that he's provided the characters with six secure cellphones with no traceability to the characters' names, one all-terrain vehicle waiting in Ciudad Juarez (near the edge of the reservation on the Mexico side), and three (stolen) credit cards that will be good for at least a month. The credit cards have limits of $4000, $2000 and $2000. As a reward, Vincent tells Jimmy that he won't have to go along with the characters.
The characters all congregate at Mad Dog's to discuss their plans. During the discussion, a waitress approaches the characters and gives Elizabeth a note. The note contains a crude stick-figure illustration of someone with long hair getting blown apart in a car. The only legend is the word, "BOOM!" The waitress tries to point out the man who sent it, but is surprised to note that his table is empty. Jeordaine swiftly uses Visceratika to detect an Obfuscated man heading out of the room, but isn't quick enough to do anything about him before the guy leaves the building (making Visceratika useless).
The characters decide to head somewhere else, but not before Jeordaine spends about 40 minutes looking for a bomb in Elizabeth's car. The other characters watch with interest, except for Vincent, who watches in near-panic. Everyone heads off to Chapman's Champion Firearms.
Shepherd and Vincent do their best to persuade Elizabeth that she wants to accompany the rest of the group. Because none of the other characters have enough money to assauage her greed, Shepherd takes the tack that there's already someone gunning for Elizabeth in San Antonio. Going to El Paso would get her out of the city, and possibly provide additional benefits of status and whatnot. She holds out for a favor from Vincent.
Shepherd takes the opportunity to hand out the silver bullets and dragonsbreath rounds, along with the three "expendable" double-barreled shotguns to fire them. Elizabeth, Cyrus and Vincent each take one shotgun and six rounds. Shepherd notes that the dragonsbreath rounds are pretty lethal, so he won't be carrying any.
The characters drive out of San Antonio first thing the next night. Cyrus drives the surplus police cruiser, while Jeordaine drives the van. Thinking that his "corporate" presence might be nice to have along, Shepherd calls up Theodore Lippo and tells him to get his ass out of work for two weeks so he can accompany the group.
Isaac's two ghouls are Chi-Chi and Mendoza. They look like the two-bit thugs that they are, but they do come equipped with a Jeep Wrangler, a cell phone (Vincent gets the number), guns, and a lot of sweat.
Everyone hits the highway. Two days later, four hours after sundown, the convoy pulls in to El Paso and heads to Vincent's condo.
The condo is located in a depressing-looking neighborhood that appears to be decorated in shades of demoralized grey. It has a two-car garage, several bedrooms, and a number of good, light-tight closets. Cyrus and Vincent pull their cars in to the garage, leaving the ghouls' Jeep out on the street.
The characters notice that Chi-Chi and Mendoza dump a couple of empty bottles of tequila into the trash after their arrival. Vincent warns them, "No drinking during the day, and don't abuse the wimp." They glumly concur, though they do debate a bit over exactly how much abuse they should be allowed to heap upon Theodore.
The conversation swiftly turns to feeding. Vincent reveals that he's stockpiled enough of his own blood to last him for at least two months, so he doesn't need to feed. Both Elizabeth and Jeordaine claim that they're able to hold out for a while. However, Shepherd and Cyrus both want to feed. The characters pretty much conclude that while they may not need to obey the Masquerade in a strict sense, they do need to avoid doing anything that would draw Sabbat attentions, including frequenting feeding places common to Camarilla Kindred (like bars and nightclubs). After some discussion, the characters decide that the best strategy is to use Vincent's Dominate abilities to persuade a family that they're got a gas leak, then drink a moderate amount from each of them. The characters decide to try this on the next evening.
The hunting trip the next evening goes without complications. Shepherd and Cyrus both drink three blood points, while Vincent drinks two.
The characters head out after the hunting trip, driving across the border towards the reservation. They leave the Jeep, Mendoza and Theodore Lippo back at the condo. Thanks in part to Vincent's Dominate, both vehicles get through the border checkpoint without problems. However, minutes after the characters go through, they hear gunfire from the checkpoint. Elizabeth pulls out her binoculars and takes a look at the situation after the characters elect to keep on driving. She sees a group of American Border Patrol agents firing at three figures inside a car with Texas plates. Exactly why they are doing this remains unclear. Everyone thinks that this is sort of an unusual development. She also notices that one of the Border Patrol agents is moving like greased lightning, leading to the shocking conclusion that there must be some Sabbat Kindred manning the border checkpoints.
The characters drive through Ciudad Juarez, which they swiftly conclude is something of a shithole. Vincent guides them to a skanky-looking used-car lot where he picks up a beat-up Range Rover type off-road vehicle that the characters find they only barely fit into. The characters decide to hide the van and take the ATV and police cruiser along. An extensive argument over exactly who will ride in which vehicle ensues, during which Cyrus heroically manages to keep his temper in check. Finally, it is decided that Jeordaine, Elizabeth and Shepherd will ride in the surplus police cruiser, while Cyrus, Vincent, and Mendoza ride in the ATV.
After a couple hours on the road, the characters manage to find the road to the reservation. During the journey, Vincent reveals that the characters are looking for the bodies of two shamans, Bringer-of-Stones and Many-Eyes. Bringer-of-Stones had been shot by a sniper some months ago, and Many-Eyes died of a heart attack caused by the same incident. Vincent (and Isaac) don't know exactly where the bodies are buried, but his occult knowledge suggests that they will be buried in a communal burial ground located in the highest part of the region, either in a mound or in a cave. Isaac's men had been intending to ask the locals where they bury their dead, but Isaac doesn't know what they found (considering that none of them came back).
During the drive, it becomes quickly obvious that the road is very poor and shouldn't be traveled quickly, especially by the refitted police cruiser. The reservation itself is clearly not a prosperous place. Few people are visible on the streets, though that's not too surprising considering the hour. The buildings are predominantly simple shanties and lean-tos, only some of which appear to have electric power. The buildings become denser and denser until they reach a plaza in the center of the reservation. Off the plaza are a local ice-house and grocery store, a community center, and a beer hall. Vincent elects to try the ice-house first, as there appear to be many fewer people there than the community center and the beer hall.
Vincent heads towards the ice house, checking auras. He determines that while the old woman and the man drinking beer inside are mundanes, at least one of the men lounging against a building nearby has a very strange aura. Cyrus stays in the car while Vincent looks around. Inside the ice-house, Vincent approaches the counter and explains that he's quite lost, and would like to hire someone as a guide. The old woman chuckles and says, "Ah, you must be very lost, as you are here." Vincent continues to dig himself deeper by claiming that he's an archaeologist, or a sociologist, or something, but he's late and needs to find someplace in the reservation. The man asks, "So, you've already cleared this with the Elders?" Vincent offers a bunch of lame explanations, but finally manages to get the local to take him off to his house, where they can stay the night. The local guides Vincent and Cyrus back out of town.
Vincent starts up a rather one-sided conversation about the sociology of the tribe, then Dominates the local into telling him where the burial grounds are. He then Dominates the man into being a guide.
While Cyrus and Vincent are driving away from the settlement, a large truck drives up behind their vehicle, turns on all it's lights, and runs the ATV off the road. Cyrus' efforts to evade are made rather futile by the fact that the ATV appears to have a mind of it's own: the gearshift moves on it's own, the lights flicker on and off, etc. The ATV finally ends up plowing into a ditch.Neither Cyrus nor Vincent are particularly hurt by this, though both Mendoza and the local are. As the ATV rolls to a stop, everyone scatters. Cyrus recognizes very quickly that the driver of the truck is a lupine with some kind of Obfuscate-like power, as the creature falls upon him and starts to rip him apart. He is rescued by a propitious burst of automatic weapons fire from Vincent, which incapacitates the lupine. Cyrus maniacally fires two shotgun shells into the lupine, who is recovering from his bullet wounds altogether too fast for comfort, then grows claws and decapitates him rather messily.
With the lupine out of the way, Vincent starts to minister to Mendoza's and the local's wounds until Cyrus leaps into the ATV yelling, "The cacti are attacking us!" and pulls the vehicle back onto the road with no warning. Sure enough, after he picks himself up off the floor of the ATV, Vincent also sees about thirty cacti slowly moving towards the ATV as it speeds away.
A couple of minutes later, both groups of characters reunite on the dirt road. The local tells them ohow to get to the burial grounds, then notes that the burial grounds themselves are located at the top of a 200 foot steep cliff. The characters moan in pain, then start a conversation on how best to get up and fetch the bodies.
Minutes later, Shepherd spots a police car pulling up a few hundred yards in front of the characters' vehicles. Through binoculars, Elizabeth reports that one man dressed as a sheriff and one man carrying a spear have emerged from the vehicle. Shepherd reacts by taking a series of carefully-aimed rifle shots at the man with the spear. His first shots hit, though the only effect they have is to make him turn into a nine-foot-tall furry monstrosity. After that, the lupine starts howling and leaping around and a wind blows up suddenly. None of Shepherd's subsequent shots hit, except for one that hits the police car's radiator.
While Shepherd is firing away at the distant lupine (and the sheriff, who has taken cover behind the car), Jeordaine calls up impenetrable darkness all around both vehicles. Cyrus waits this out for a while, then pulls out, hits the other car, and slews out into the night. The other vehicle follows suit after two waves of fifteen cacti each rush it, peppering Shepherd with spines.
Everyone turns around to head towards the burial grounds (and the police car) while Shepherd balances in the police car's sunroof, taking wild rifle shots at the lupine all the while. Shepherd notices that the winds around the lupine are apparently specifically-designed to knock bullets aside, as he doesn't manage to get a single shot to land on the lupine. He does, however, manage to land a shot into his own car's engine, much to Jeordaine's distress.
Meanwhile, the lupine produces a shaft of blazing light and lets it fly at Cyrus' vehicle. Cyrus slews to the right, managing to almost avoid the spear. The spear hits him in the shoulder, inflicting yet another level of aggravated damage and setting him on fire. Cyrus spends his Willpower like water to avoid going into Rotschreck while Vincent pulls out a fire extinguisher and douses Cyrus with foam.
The sheriff, whom everyone had forgotten, provides a reminder of his presence when he shoots Shepherd square through the head. Shepherd, badly injured, slips back into the car only to be grazed by a stray shot fired by Elizabeth. A general orgy of gunfire follows, most of it totally ineffective. Vincent follows up by using Thaumaturgy to set the trunk of the sheriff's car ignite.
Jeordaine reduces the lethality of the lupine by lifting him off the ground with Movement of the Mind. He then starts spinning him around after the lupine retrieves his flame spear, ensuring that the next spear strike simply strikes the converted police car and pushes Elizabeth and Shepherd into Rotschreck. Ever the calm one, Jeordaine escapes from the car and starts to use Thaumaturgy to pull blood from the lupine at range.
Cyrus and Vincent pull up to the wreckage of the other car to try and help the situation. This proves to be more of a problem than a help, as Vincent catches a look at the fire, goes into Rotschreck, and runs into the wilderness.
Eventually, Jeordaine manages to shoot the lupine with a silver bullet, killing him.
The group is somewhat disarrayed by the end of the fight. Shepherd, Elizabeth and Vincent have all scattered in Rotschreck. Both the sheriff's car and one of the characters' cars are on fire. Cyrus tries to use Vincent's fire extinguisher to put out his car, but goes into Rotschreck halfway through. Jeordaine picks up after Cyrus, and also goes into Rotschreck after the sheriff's car explodes. The characters' police car also exploded while everyone was cowering in the bush.
About thirty minutes later, everyone reassembles in the ATV, which is the only remaining working vehicle. Jeordaine drives. Most of the characters have severely reduced arsenals, as all of the weapons in the surplus police car were destroyed.
By 04:30, two hours after the fight, the characters arrive at the burial grounds. Jeordaine, Elizabeth and Cyrus climb the bluff to look for the bodies while everyone else guards the vehicle below and Vincent whines about how the sun is coming up soon. Cyrus is the slowest of the group, taking about a half-hour to scale the 150 foot slope with Elizabeth's help. Jeordaine, using Movement of the Mind to lift himself, is by far the quickest.
The top of the mountain is dotted with about thirty bodies, each placed atop a low platform and dressed in ceremonial gear. By the time Elizabeth and Cyrus show up, Jeordaine has identified six bodies that could be the ones Vincent is interested in. Jeordaine deduces that the body covered with many pairs of sunglasses is probably Many-Eyes. They can't tell which is Bringer-of-Stones, so they decide to simply take all six of them.
To save time in getting the bodies to the bottom, the characters elect to simply throw them off the edge (in body bags). Unfortunately, Cyrus is throwing the third body off the edge when part of the cliff falls in. The third body simply disappears somewhere. Cyrus opines that that one must have been Bringer-of-Stones.
Jeordaine expedites the process of getting everyone down from the top by levitating them all down. Shepherd loads the bodies up while Elizabeth and Cyrus unsuccessfully look for the missing body. Vincent blanks the local guide's memories of these events and sends him running off towards home.
By the time everyone gets finished, the howls of approaching lupines can be heard in the distance. With dawn about thirty minutes away, there are clearly many lupines approaching from the West and some approaching from the North. The characters zip themselves into body-bags while Mendoza drives to the East. After about twenty minutes the howling ceases. Vincent instructs Mendoza to drive into the distance, get some fuel, and stay away from caves and population centers. The sun rises, and the characters sleep uneasily in their body bags.
The sun sets, and the characters rise from their body bags. All the body bags are scattered around outside the Jeep. Mendoza is nowhere to be seen. Cyrus is still low on blood and suffering from many aggravated wounds, so Vincent uses a Blood Rush ritual on him to prevent him from going wild.
The characters search the area and find that some of their more expensive equipment are gone, though Mendoza's gun is nearby and has clearly been fired many times. The characters swiftly hide themselves.
Minutes later, an old Hispanic man emerges from a wrecked car. He has an extra eye about two centimeters lower than it should be, and he is carrying a nice rifle taken from one of the characters. He obviously recognizes that the characters are Kindred. He explains that he ate Mendoza, and that he'd normally kill all of them, except that he thinks they may be nice guys. He reacts badly to Vincent, but seems to like Cyrus plenty.
The warped Hispanic man asks what the characters had been doing on the reservation. Cyrus responds, "It should be kinda obvious," as he hefts a body bag into the ATV. Cyrus also tells him that they got a couple of them, including the one with with spear; the Hispanic mutant seems very happy to hear that. He agrees to let them all go if they give him everything except: the bodies, the ATV, their pistols ("sissy guns"), and their passports. Several characters hold on to their wallets, and keep some credit cards and money.
The characters drive their way out of the junkyard quite slowly. On the way through the junkyard, the characters see lots of misshapen creatures, many of which appear to be some kind of lupine. One in particular appears to have a wolf's body, a human's torso, and a bowl of green goop in it's arms. It waves to the characters as they drive away.
The group makes it back to the highway to Juarez by 22:30 that evening. An hour later they reach Ciudad Juarez and retrieve the van. They quickly transfer all of the body bags into the van.
The characters debate strategies for crossing the border. The obvious problem is that the Sabbat will have Kindred watching all of the legal border crossings, and will probably be waiting for the characters to reappear at one of them with their van. Trying to run some kind of illegal crossing has it's own problems.
Shepherd finally proposes a plan: find a trucker heading up to the States, Dominate him, put everything in the back of the truck (hidden by whatever goods he's carrying), and get him to go through the NAFTA border checks.
Cyrus points out once again that he is currently rather low on blood, and still needs healing badly. He wants to stay in Ciudad Juarez for a couple of days to heal up. Vincent nixes this by noting that he heard that the lupines had made an alliance with the Sabbat: if this is true, then the characters may not have much time before news of their raid turns Ciudad Juarez (and all of the border crossing points) into an armed camp. Vincent says: "We must go tonight." Reluctantly, everyone agrees.
Vincent hangs around a truck stop until he is able to Dominate a trucker. The characters then spend a night in the truck waiting to head up across the border.
The second night in the truck, Cyrus fails his self-control. A brief, rather terrifying fight ensues before Cyrus is restrained. At the end of it all, Cyrus accepts ten blood pellets from Vincent to calm down. Cyrus is now one-third Blood Bound to Vincent.
The characters wait anxiously as the truck moves through the border checkpoint. Everything seems good, up until the moment the truck pulls off the road and stops. Moments later, most of the characters recognize that the back of the truck has been opened, and set on fire. Someone calls out, "Oh ho Camarilla! Come out and play!"
The characters plot quickly. The plan: Cyrus will use claws and Potence to tear a hole in the top of the trailer. He will go out first and try to kill anyone that moves. Jeordaine will head out second, get to the cab, and try to restart the engine. Cyrus makes a few eyeholes, revealing that the truck is now in some kind of parking garage.
Cyrus takes some time to rip open the trailer, during which time Jeordaine throws an Obtenebration effect down at the burning end of the trailer. Cyrus rushes out to be confronted by a vampiric bat. He aims the shotgun, pulls the trigger, and is disconcerted to realize that it's totally jammed. Cyrus, intrigued by the affectionate way the bat caresses his face and eyes with it's claws and teeth, tears the bat into five pieces. Other characters start to pour out onto the cab, and general mayhem ensues.
A huge, hairless ogre-creature with an 8' balanced chainsaw in each hand appears from nowhere to menace Elizabeth and Shepherd. Shepherd proceeds to waste a couple of trick shots on the chainsaw motors before he realizes that he must be looking at an illusion. Elizabeth turns on her Celerity and fires at everything in sight, including a weaselly-looking Hispanic guy in the corner of the garage. One hit against him and the chainsaw apparition disappears. Elizabeth and Shepherd pour bullets down on him until he no longer moves.
Jeordaine sneaks into the cab of the truck, and is making good progress hotwiring the engine when someone very pleasant tells him, "Please stop fooling with the truck, and stop doing whatever it is that makes you hard to see." Jeordaine, fortunately, is protected by Pavis of Foul Presence, ensuring that the other fellow turns off his Presence practically instantly. Instead, he tries a second strategy: he opens his mouth wide open and shoots his suddenly drill-like tongue into Jeordaine's cheek. Jeordaine starts losing blood and taking aggravated damage. Jeordaine's response is to pin him with Movement of the Mind, which suffices until Shepherd shows up to shoot the fellow silly.
Elizabeth finds herself grappled by an Obfuscated Nosferatu. She struggles without much effect until Vincent and Shepherd spot him and shoot him several times. The Nosferat becomes disgusted by this behaviour and disappears, along with all of the other hostiles in the area.
The characters stake the Serpent of the Light (the fellow with the tongue) and the Ravnos antitribu (the whining illusionist) and wrap them up. By this time, the sprinkler system has started up, but it isn't making good progress at putting out the fire inside the truck. The characters elect to simply steal another van from the parking garage and head off to El Paso. By 22:00, they arrive.
With a couple of stops for hunting and recovery, the characters manage to make it back to San Antonio in a rented van with two staked Sabbat, the body of the shaman Many-Eyes, and five other Indian bodies.
Each character gains five experience points. Cyrus spends six experience to buy Drive to four dots and four more experience to buy Dodge to three dots.