CbN020: Decompression
General Summary
THE AFTERMATH
Sept 5th-Oct 5th 2017 After the vote, it takes a while for things to settle down, but everyone accepts the results eventually, if reluctantly. The kindred of Chicago settle back into their status quo as best they can. They return to their havens and their domains and prepare to scheme anew. The Lost Boys resume their respective routines, each of them feeling stronger and wiser. The Prince has rewarded them with a bigger area for their Domain and other smaller perks they take full advantage of. With a bigger area at their fingertips, they make sure to interact with more locals and create a better network of mortals, just to keep an ear out for trouble. They hire watchmen to look after their crypt every day while they sleep. Brad and Josh come back to work for them with Josh assuming a leader role in their security team. Some time during the month, Marcel gets in contact and informs them about a very important event coming up. Apparently the Prince always celebrates the day of his death (his birthday!) in March and kindred are speculating this will be the moment where big gatherings are allowed to happen again. He recommends they gather favors and good word among the kindred so they may become Ancilla during this event, otherwise they might need to wait a whole other year.MARY
Concerned by how their security was breached multiple times, Mary suggests to improve security around the Domain, on their phones and the crypt. She works tirelessly on each phone, putting a program that tracks access logs and IP tracers. She specifically places a backdoor on Liliana’s phone. On the first few days, she heads to a security box and picks up a phone to leave a note for Angela. She goes to a firing range for weeks and gets significantly better at using firearms. Her dummies usually have the name “Jason” on them. The rest of the time, she works on improving the crypt’s security system.MAUDE
Maude makes sure to make some time for their friend Turner, who they know have been going through a rough time. They help their friend with anything he needs, while also introducing him to new people that can support him. They go to Alexa and cash in the Major Boon she owes them in exchange for teaching them how to use the ability she had shown them at Red No.5. Alexa happily agrees and allows Maude to drink from her. Maude feels a bit more connected to Alexa and can now use this ability. They also ask Alexa who could help them improve their Auspex. Alexa points them to Bronwyn, apparently she’s famously known for her high Auspex abilities. They go find Bronwyn and bring Mary along in case they need help with communication. Bronwyn agrees to meet them outside of the Blue Velvet. They have a ghoul with her who acts as a translator, speaking as if they are Bronwyn. She helps Maude in exchange for a Major Boon, to which Maude agrees. They spend a few hours touching different chess pieces Bronwyn has brought and eventually unlocks the ability to see into the past when interacting with objects. Mary stands in a corner the entire time and says nothing. After Maude leaves she stares at Bronwyn for a long time, who merely stares back until Mary leaves.LILIANA
Liliana spends most of her time improving her Fortitude abilities. She goes to the painted lady and agrees to help her with anything they need. In the end, the painted lady asks her to be part of her security and also allow her to use Liliana’s haven to host some of her clients. Liliana agrees in exchange for a Minor Boon. She meets with Rosa a few times as well, who teaches her more about werewolves and shares with her some important information. Apparently there have been some suspicious attacks happening near Gary. She tells Liliana she’ll let her know soon if it develops. Liliana starts building silver weapons in preparation for future werewolf fights. She creates a silver machete for Clementine, a gun with silver bullets for Maude or Mary and a pair of silver knuckle dusters for herself.CLEMENTINE
Clementine goes talk to Elliot. She sympathizes with him and tries to be there in his grief, she can tell he has been having a rough couple of days. She asks about what Maude said, worried and confused by his rash actions. He is frustrated and seems mad that she has been leaving him out in the dark for so many things. He didn’t really know what he was doing that night and just wanted to save Marco. He asks her to trust him more, especially after she tells him she’ll be doing business with Sierra. She asks that he doesn’t interact with any vampires, least of all Sierra, and does her best to dissuade him from his recent fascination with vampires. Later that month, Elliot tells her Marco’s dad had been investigating Marco's disappearance but recently he stopped. Elliot seems to find this very suspicious. Every once in a while she meets with Sierra and they exchange information and settle into an agreement. Sierra wants to be introduced to five members of the Camarilla: Annabelle, the Seneschal, Ballard, Kalid and Bronwyn. Jason was a person of interest for Sierra but Clem tells her she has very strong reasons to believe he’s an enemy of the Lasombra. In exchange for this favor, Sierra will keep helping her with the Dominate protection and also keep her informed of any Lasombra that comes into the city or is planning to. Clementine agrees to introduce her to one person first and re-visit this deal after. She arranges a meeting with Talley which takes some time to happen. He meets her at an abandoned hospital along with Sierra. He offers to be their mentor if they both agree to swear by the Path of Honorable Accord. Sierra immediately agrees, while Clementine hesitates. He hands her a little red book that contains the Code of Milan, an ancient “code of honor” of the Sabbat. Talley explains that while some of it does not apply to them any more, due to it be Sabbat oriented, he intends to re-write those parts with them and figure it out from there.DIFFICULT CONVERSATIONS
Through the next few days, the Coterie finds a moment to regroup and touch on more sensitive conversations. They immediately ask Maude about what happened back at the Succubus Club, when they screamed and cried blood. “…and also, why were you hitting your head against a wall,” Liliana adds. Maude opens up and tells them about reading Jason’s soul and what they saw. They then explain who Elodie is to them: “In insultingly simple terms, Elodie is my sire. More honestly, she was - no, is - my soulmate. My best friend. When I was human, we were everything to each other. Then one day she just… vanished. I spent the rest of my life, 10 awful years looking for her. When I finally found her, she turned me into… this. Then she was gone again. Except this time, everything was so much worse. I see her everywhere, in everything.” Maude turned to Clem, “You know what it’s like to not see yourself in the mirror? I feel that too - except I don’t see my own reflection, just her. I hear her name when it isn’t being called, I see her out of the corner of my eyes but she’s never right in front of me. It’s like reality has bent into her shape, but she’s always out of reach. “The only thing I do have is Jason. When Elodie turned me and vanished again, he was there. He explained what happened to me, introduced me to vampire society and took such good care of me when I had nothing else. You have to understand; he means everything to me. He loves me.” The rest of the group listens intently, trying to make sense of it all. They seem sympathetic but very worried over how much influence Jason has on Maude. Clementine asks how long they’ve known Jason to which they reply “7 years”.They all cringe.
Very gently the three women explain why they are so suspicious of Jason. Earlier both Mary and Clementine were able to rationalize that Jason had used Dominate on them at the Blood Disco party but for a long time they weren’t suspicious at all, even though their actions did not make sense. “It took the Prince of Chicago and another powerful kindred to make me even question it,” Clem says. For Mary, it took Jason attacking her mentally and seemingly disturbing what she has been working on for a while: the cobweb. Mary tells them about how a dark energy seemed to be around Jason in the cobweb. Throughout this whole conversation, Maude kept trying to justify Jason’s actions to the point where they even suggest that Lasombra people must actually be bad if he was so against them. Clementine defends her clan, putting herself as an example of a “good” Lasombra and pointing out that every clan has “stinky people and hot people”. They agree that Maude shouldn’t be alone too often, with Clem even offering to stay with them at their Haven if necessary. They’d want to know if Maude goes to see Jason at any point. Mary makes sure to let them know she’s very shaken by the recent breaches of security as well as what happened to her Haven. She wants to address these things immediately and find out more about this “Hurricane” individual as well as the people who sent the goons to attack them during the day. Clementine expresses that she’s very grateful to all of them and she’ll help with anything they need. Liliana smiles and looks up. “Oh! About that…”
Report Date
29 Mar 2023
