CbN025: Heavy Truths
General Summary
GENERAL SUMMARY
Abandoned Building, Oct 9th, 2017RUDE AWAKENING
In the Northwest side of Chicago, away from the tall, beautiful buildings of downtown stands an abandoned business building, its once-polished facade weathered by time, leaving it worn and weary, its interior stained by the hands of nature and neglect. The sun, nearing the horizon, casts its golden rays upon it, illuminating the forgotten memories held within its dilapidated structure. Two figures lay immobile in torpor on the second floor, unaware and uncaring of the goings ons outside. At least not until the boards covering the windows start to shake and rattle and the slightest kiss of sunlight peeks through.HEAT. PAIN. AGONY.
Clementine stirs abruptly out of deep sleep by intense pain as a beam of sunlight hits her ankle, gravely hurting her. She jumps back, hissing lowly, eyes darting quickly around to get her bearings. She sees Celia nearby and retreating as well, thankfully not damaged by the light. “Yo, help me out with this.” A voice says from the other side of the wall. Clementine panics, considering holding onto the boards, but there’s too much sunlight coming through. Celia grabs her arm and drags her out of the room, quickly whispering, “What do we do? There’s a room upstairs but it’s too open and the basement is flooded.” “We don’t have to breathe.” Clementine answers simply. Celia pauses for a moment then nods and takes them to the lower floor towards a staircase that leads to dark, murky water. Clementine suggests staying hidden within, as her shadow starts to wave slowly and wisps of darkness cover her body. Celia looks down towards the water, her eyes covered in shadow, allowing her to see clearly. She leads them as they both go in- Clementine leans her back against a wall and Celia hides behind debris and loose wooden boards, at the same time there’s a clatter from upstairs and footsteps can be heard starting to make their way inside the building. The intruders sound like a group of four drunken individuals planning on crashing in here for the night with some drinks and drugs. One of them gets downstairs and seems amused by the state of the basement. He starts poking a stick around where the two vampires are submerged. Celia hears a familiar voice in the back of her mind pushing her to attack and grab them by surprise, stronger now that she’s so hungry. She recoils as the wooden stick stabs nearby-- instinctively not liking wooden objects poking anywhere near her. She looks toward Clementine who’s looking at the figure stabbing around blindly, unmoving and pushes the voice down, for now, deciding to follow suit and stay still. After a bit more prodding the man moves on and leaves the pool. The men kick old furniture and debris and talk loudly, unaware of the two predators laying underneath, just waiting for night to come.THE CONFESSIONAL
Back at the late Church of St.Boniface, the rest of the Lost Boys start stirring, just as the night begins. Immediately Liliana asks what happened last night, she had been told to look after Alexa but after Mary’s speech she was just staring at the wall and all other Malkavians were in a bit of a trance as well. Then she points to both Mary and Maude, “And you two, what happened between you?” “I saw a lot.” Mary says, still a bit overwhelmed by everything that happened. And Maude, who had been staring at Mary from the very beginning, tilts their head slightly and says, “It felt like… you were tearing at my soul, ripping apart everything I am. I don’t understand… Why did you hurt me like that?”” Mary looks down guiltily, but explains in earnest that she wasn’t trying to hurt them, she was just trying to find out more. She mentions seeing two shadowy figures behind them: Jason and a black woman who Maude immediately points out must be Elodie. While the Malkavians talk, Liliana gets a text from Haley, one of her best friends. She texts and audio messages her frequently about her life and thinks Liliana is away on a trip to Australia for the past year. In this new audio message though, she mentions starting a new relationship with someone that said they know Liliana and a picture confirms it to be Duncan Mactavish, Liliana’s sire. She stares at her phone for a while and ultimately decides to reply later, her attention going back to the two Malkavians. Mary explains that Jason seemed to be pulling at strings, like a puppeteer to which Maude wonders why it would be a bad thing if Elodie was doing it as well. The conversation then goes back and forth, with Mary and Liliana both trying to persuade Maude into seeing things from their perspective and Maude confused but coming to the Primogen’s defense as always. “All I’m doing is telling you what I saw, you can do with this information what you want, it’s just facts. And I like to believe that you’re a person who appreciates facts.” Mary says with finality. These words seem to trigger some doubt in Maude’s mind for the first time and suddenly, they remember being in a session with Jason where he kept telling them words that would normally be reassuring but that now that they think about it, sound odd and twisted somehow.“Do not doubt yourself, protect yourself. You should always fight those who will try to tell you to not be yourself.” The words are the usual therapist-speak, but seem to hold power over Maude. They’re more of a command than reassurance.The group then debate Jason’s interference with Maude’s senses, and arrive at the conclusion that Jason has the Auspex ability Share the Senses which allows him to see through someone else’s eyes even from a great distance. They figure out that the ability requires drinking the user’s blood - but a powerful Sabbat could do this without blood. And speaking of Sabbat adjacent people, where the hell is Clem?
THE GUILTY MUST SUFFER
They wait about forty five minutes for night to arrive. The drunktards are loud and curious as they explore the building. Once they get to the second floor, the two Lasombra can hear one of them shout “Look! There’s a dog!” Immediately Celia moves forward, alerting Clementine. They peek their heads above water. Celia whispers that they must help the dog, just as loud whimpers and whines are heard above. Clementine seems to consider things for a moment but Celia is already making her way out of the water. The older vampire grabs her by the wrist and motions towards some empty bottles nearby, breaking one against a wall and pushing them both out of sight. The men upstairs check the noise and are immediately taken by surprise by Celia who extends her arms out and activates her Oblivion powers. One of the men gets his balls squeezed by a dark shadow hand while another two narrowly avoid being grappled. Clementine pulls out her sword and jumps on another's shoulders, stabbing him in the face and killing him instantly before jumping back in front of the exit. The men scream in horror, one of them tries to escape but Clementine stabs him to death, a small dog latching at his leg at the same time his body falls to the ground. The other two attack Celia but are overwhelmed by the dark arms. They make quick work of the two left, feeding and killing them, their overwhelming hunger finally satisfied for the night. Clementine is disgusted by the taste of their blood, as if she can still taste the drugs in it. “Ok so, killing people? Normally not ok. Though these guys kinda deserved it.” Clementine says as Celia picks up her dog and pets it. The older vampire explains the basics of feeding- that vampires don’t have to kill to feed and also points out that she can try to not look so dead by rousing her blood slightly. “Well, tell me something nice, that might help.” Celia suggests with a cheeky smile. Clementine smirks and leans closer, “you have pretty eyes.” She says matter of factly without missing a beat and that seems to do the trick as some color returns to the other woman. After that, Clem suggests going back to meet her friends and so they make their way back to Southside, towards The Confessional.NEW FRIENDS
It’s a few moments later, still early in the night when Clementine, Celia and her dog Checo walk into the club. Their clothes are still wet and covered in blood, but it is a Monday, so the club is closed and Elliot has the day off. They find the others finishing up their conversations. Clementine introduces everyone to Celia and explains the events of yesterday, how she found her in the Racks and had to take her away after she saw Bronwyn and Evan come in. They briefly explain to Celia about the different clans of kindred and the six traditions of the Camarilla. Clem makes sure to mention that their clan joined the Camarilla very recently and there’s still some tension, so Celia should keep this in mind when interacting with other kindred. They also explain they’ll need the head of an older Sabbat vampire in order for her to join. Then, Clem turns to Kim, explaining that they left some bodies under water in a flooded basement of an old abandoned building to the Northwest and will need help cleaning it up. This prompts Celia to admit that she also has a situation that might need cleaning up and explains that about a week ago, she left a Lakehouse owned by her family where her friends laid dead and she has a strong feeling it might have been her. “This is new. I didn’t know this.” Clementine quickly defends herself as the group all look at her disbelievingly. Maude asks the group why they should help or care, this seems to be a lot of trouble. Celia defends herself, mentioning her family and the money and influence she has and could use to help them. Mary seems very interested, pointing out that news channels control information, which could help them immensely but also, the Lakehouse might be a huge security risk and now they’re all involved. Clem also adds that Celia could be connected to her sire as well, seeing as they both have the same “VII” tattooed on their necks, not to mention this is something she really wants to do. Satisfied by the answers, they decide to go to the Lakehouse later today.CONFESSIONS
As the group is getting ready to split up, Liliana stops them. She explains that she’s in a bit of a pickle, since her friend might be in danger. She admits that she was not actually turned in the pit they found her in, but rather placed there by her bastard of a sire. She tells them that’s why she doesn’t trust Marcel, because he was there the night Mactavish staked her against her will and put her in this situation. They all take a moment to ask questions and clarifications for this new information, Maude seemingly already having figured out that things weren’t as they seemed, but not wanting to push it if it was too uncomfortable for Liliana. Clementine defends Marcel, saying that even if he wasn’t her favorite, he’s the reason she was able to join the Camarilla and not be killed immediately and the same could be said for Liliana. After that, with the help of everyone else, Clementine writes what Liliana should say to her friend in a piece of paper. The conversation between Haley and Liliana after that goes back and forth for a while but the group is left feeling sure that her friend will try to stay as far away from the older vampire as possible. Then they split to go get ready to head out to the Lakehouse.THE COMPASS
While Kim helps Clementine get dressed up, she shows her an artifact the Painted Lady gave her when they were visiting the nosfies the night before. It is a compass that needs blood poured in it to work and can track whoever’s blood it has. She explains to Clem that maybe if they could get some of Celia’s blood, they could track her in case she goes missing. Clem seems very intrigued by it and immediately bites her finger and lets a bit of her blood fall on it, but nothing seems to happen. Celia, who unbeknownst to them had been listening to their conversation steps in view and seems very suspicious of Kim and why she would need her blood for a compass that doesn’t seem to work. Kim explains that the compass only works if she pours the blood in it herself and the effect only lasts for a little while. Clem convinces Celia to give a vial of her blood to her, “It’s only for if you get in trouble. We don’t know who could be after you.” The rest of the group walk in and join the conversation and point out other ways blood can be used, the most common one being sorcery performed by the clan of the Warlocks. But also, a ghoul only needs a little taste of blood and will be able to use a basic discipline from the source’s clan of origin. Maude interrupts the talk about blood and sorcery to mention that they have a feeling they’ll have a session with Jason soon, keeping their promise to always tell the group when they go meet him. After this totally normal and not concerning revelation, they all get ready to head out; Kim goes to the abandoned building while the rest go to the Lakehouse.CLEANING TIME
NORTHWEST ABANDONED BUILDING
Kim arrives at the address Clem and Celia provided and finds signs of a fight and four bodies underwater held down by rocks and debris. She gets to work right away, expertly setting up the scene so that it looks like a couple of men were drunk and high and attacked the other two. She adds a bunch of stronger drugs to the scene and makes sure any trace of the other two vampires is gone.NORTHEAST SHORE
Nestled along the shores of Lake Michigan is the rich neighborhood near Loyola Beach in Chicago. It exudes an air of elegance and sophistication, lined with majestic mansions and meticulously manicured lawns- this is an area near Lilana’s childhood home but more concerning they recognize it to be within Anabelle’s domain. Near a gated private area they see a beautiful gray Audi R8 V10 with orange stripes. Celia recognizes it as Andrea’s car “Donna”. She remembers that this car is a bit of a character in their friends’ group, and Andrea loved it very much. Before they go any further, Celia hands Mary her phone, saying that it hasn’t been working for her but maybe Mary can make it work. Mary takes the phone and finds a bunch of messages, emails and photos:• From “Pablo Garcia”, a board member of “El Pulso del Mundo” who had sent a lengthy message Mary can summarize to mean the board is given delegate power over Celia to make choices by default until she says otherwise.Once she’s done checking, Mary explains the gist of it to the group and then puts the data in one of her USB’s, turns off location and wipes out the phone, explaining that it’s too risky. “It’s not like you can use it anyways,” Clem says to a dejected Celia.
• From her mom Aurora, there are multiple passive-aggressive messages about Celia running away.
• From Andrea’s girlfriend Laura, a few messages asking Celia where Andrea is and saying that she knows they were hanging out together.
• From school teachers, emails about missing assignments.
• There’s also pictures showing a traumatized looking Celia and selfies of her friends trying to cheer her up.
PRIVATE AREA
They arrive at a gated area with a security booth inside which a guard is sitting. The group takes a moment to decide how to proceed and come to the conclusion that no one should know Celia was here, in case she could be implicated, since she’s so easy to recognize. They drive forward and Celia talks to the guard Tomas, who immediately recognizes her and opens the gate for them. Before the conversation can go on for too long, Maude interrupts and uses their Dominate powers to cloud Tomas memory, making him forget he ever saw them. Behind the gates is a private neighborhood with beautiful houses that seem mostly empty, as people use them as vacation homes. The area provides a serene retreat from the city’s hustle and bustle and Celia and her friends would often come here to escape. As they drive slowly and get close to their destination, Maude notices an open window and a woman talking on the phone. With their Auspex abilities they can read their lips and ascertain that this person is calling the authorities, finding their car to be suspicious. She also mentions having reported weird smells around the area before and demanding they come take a look. Maude let’s everyone know about this lady and Liliana parks near a different house, where there’s a blind spot from the gossip’s window. They all head out and reach Celia’s family house located at the end of the street, successfully avoiding the woman’s prying eyes.THE RIVERA LAKEHOUSE
The Rivera Lakehouse stands as a three story home with five bedrooms and luxurious decor. The front door is slightly open, the door seemingly broken off its hinges. The group approach carefully and are immediately assaulted by the strong smell of decay. Clementine puts a hand on Celia’s shoulder and tells her that she doesn’t have to come if this is too much, but Celia's resolved to face this. They all step inside the house into the living room area where there’s signs of broken or pushed furniture, the decor is beautiful in a simplistic type of way. They can smell the stench getting stronger, the source of it seems to be coming from the dining room. Slowly, the kindred keep pushing forward.THE DINING ROOM
The once luxurious and bright dining room is now wrecked and shrouded in darkness as the chandelier that was hanging from the center of the room hangs from a thread while the chairs are mostly all in disarray, the fancy gourmet food that was once on the table is now an spoiled mess across the wooden floors. The wall across the room is dented and broken, blood splattered on it and on top of the open kitchen counter lies the body of a young woman. A sudden flashback comes to Celia at the display. It’s a memory of Andrea and Michelle, they’re all hanging out in a room on the second floor and they keep telling her to cheer up, that it’s going to be alright. Andrea suggests listening to music and goes to turn on the radio, she turns it up very loudly - this always bothered Celia but today, it’s triggered her into a rage. She pushes Andrea who falls on the floor astonished, “Wh-what the hell, Celia?!” But her eyes quickly shift from surprise to fear as Celia jumps on her and Michelle screams in horror. She comes back to the present and can hear the music still coming from the second floor even now, still as loud as that night. The person they find is Michelle Curtis, a very short and slender woman with sharp features, gray eyes and medium length brown hair. The blood coming from her torso and head has long since dried out, leaving long dark lines of blood running all the way to the floor. Another flashback comes to Celia then, of Michelle walking around the room animatedly, talking about her wishes to become a well known politician and changing the West side of Chicago, her eyes filled with brightness and excitement. The bright happy memory suddenly changes to Michelle running while looking back, terrified before being grabbed by the ankle and being dragged back and tossed across the room.SECOND FLOOR
Celia snaps back to reality and suggests they go find the other body, she has a feeling it must be upstairs. She leads them to the stairs and starts going up. The walls and railings are covered with hand shaped dried blood marks. She gets a new flashback of Michelle running down the stairs and her point of view shifting quickly as she jumps from wall to wall, leaving shoe marks and bending the wood in her wake. The floor upstairs opens to a wide and long hallway, they follow the source of the music and reach a door slightly ajar at the end. They step into a beautiful room with wide open windows that look towards the Lake, the stars and moon casting lights across the water’s surface creating an astonishing view. In the middle of the room is a stone table affixed to the floor, an intricate sound system and TV and chairs that have been knocked over- and there, near a wall lies another corpse on top of a pool of dark blood. This is Andrea Washington, an up and coming Chef and race car aficionado. She is average height, with a willowy frame and fair features and pale green eyes. She has very long, straight, strawberry blonde hair that’s soaked in blood, her head tilted in an unnatural way. They all take a moment to contemplate this horrible scene. On the table in the middle are two phones; Mary quickly grabs them and just like with Celia’s phone, she sifts through them quickly and finds:On Andrea’s phone:There’s also more pictures of the girls together, but not much else.
• Many missed calls and messages from her girlfriend Laura accusing her of breaking up with her in the worst possible way and mentioning the lease for the apartment they bought together.
• Many messages on her social media accounts. Apparently Andrea had a big social media presence and her followers are wondering why she hasn’t posted in so long. On Michelle’s phone:
• Messages from her dog sitter. They are increasingly concerned as each day passes by without any response until they finally apologize and say they have to leave- this was two days ago.
THE PLAN
At first, Celia insists that they must find a way to cover up for this with her rejoining society in the end, explaining that if she doesn’t, she might lose her hold on her family’s shares. They entertain different ideas that include kidnapping, a serial killer attack, amongst others, but in the end, Clementine reminds the group that it’s just not possible for Celia to return. She’s way too well known and will be required to do interviews or be followed by paparazzi at the very least, and Lasombra people cannot have their pictures or video taken; they can’t even use phones or do voice recordings. Celia seems very disheartened to learn this, but the group reassures her and suggests getting in contact with a single human she trusts and letting them know the truth. “It’s what I did.” Clem says with a sad smile. In the next hour or so, the group devises a new plan of action. Maude suggests getting rid of the bodies with a new ability they have recently acquired and pretending all three women committed suicide together in the lake. The group agrees that this is the best course of action, putting their heads together on how best to stage it. Mary changes their phone locations and makes sure anything that could be incriminating is deleted from the phones. They place the phones inside the family’s boat with unsent messages to their loved ones crafted by Celia and leave the vessel detached from the private port. Maude approaches one of the bodies and kneels before it. They extend their hands and the group watches as the body begins bloating as if filled with water, the skin wrinkling and shriveling as the murky decomposition extends across the whole body, melting it down until it leaves behind nothing more than a puddle of water in a matter of minutes. Even the pool of blood has been wiped from the scene. Clementine watches with curiosity, the process of it all reminding her of something she cannot quite place at the moment. Mary can see as inside the cobweb, the threads that are attached to the body break and a dark energy is left behind where it once was. Maude shakes their hands and nods, heading to the next body to start all over again. For the rest of the night they clean the place, Kim joining them half way through the process and helping make sure everything is covered and accounted for. Feeling very satisfied with their work, the group heads back to The Confessional for the night, with Celia promising to make whoever did this to her pay for herself and for her friends.
Report Date
09 Jun 2023
