CBN029: End of a Year
General Summary
Nov 25st, 2017
THE INVESTIGATION
It’s Saturday night and The Confessional is in full swing, thumping beats of music reverberating through the air and making its way outside where a lone figure stands, looking frazzled but determined. Maude walks forward with purpose, knocking a fancily dressed man on the shoulder on their rush to get through the crowd waiting in line to get inside. The man stares in shock as a letter he was holding falls on the dirty and wet ground, quickly picking it up and looking back at the retreating back of Maude who pays him no mind. Once inside the club, Maude spots the rest of their friends easily even through the very crowded space and makes sure to make their presence known, motioning for them to follow. They don’t wait to see the others’ reactions as they quickly weave through the sea of people, their movements both purposeful and fluid. They reach the secured hallway that leads to the crypt and hastily make their way down. The transition from vibrant club to crypt is stark, the air growing colder and the sounds of music and laughter fading away. Maude reaches into their bag and pulls out notes and paper slips and sticks them against a wall, just as the rest of the Lost Boys reach them with a mix of confusion and apprehension. Once they notice the group Maude launches into a rant, explaining all they have been up to for the past few days and once they’re done, they look at the group expectantly.TURNING A NEW LEAF
Clem is the first to speak, impressed by all Maude has accomplished, but making it clear that the group did not appreciate their disappearing act. “Even I am better at keeping in touch.” She admonishes them sternly. Maude apologizes for not letting them know sooner what they were up to but tries to make them understand how important this was for them, that this investigation was the only way they could cope with the revelations in the Blue Velvet. In a very sincere way, they explain that the last 20 years of their life had been a lie, that the Elodie they thought they knew is someone else. “I just found out the last 20 years of my life meant nothing.” They say steadily, even a bit coldly. “And I’m just so… angry.” They express their concern about Jason hiding things from them and possibly making them forget, they don’t want to keep forgetting, they want to find out the truth. They understand that Jason must have had a reason for what he’s doing, but they think he’s wrong and they must help him. But most importantly, they still want to find Elodie and keep unraveling the clues. “I don’t even think–when she wasn’t sad—I don’t even think that was her.” They say, referring to that time in their haven when they had a vision of the past. “Something’s ripping at me. I feel like that was Jason. I don’t know why. It doesn’t make sense. Even in that car—it was Turner. I feel like I can’t even trust the one person I thought I could.” They mention once more how their friend Turner looks middle aged but in reality should be turning eighty soon, if recent investigations are true. “This whole time I was struggling to make sense of it. The only thing that hasn’t been a lie is this last year. And all of you. And you all have been honest with me, in ways that nothing else feels like it was real or honest.”THE ULTIMATUM
Mary walks towards Clementine slowly and whispers, “Is it me, or is this everything we wanted to hear? Am I just hungry? Hallucinating?” Clementine shakes her head, slaps herself and blinks a few times then looks at Liliana who seems just as taken aback by all of this. They thank Maude for being honest and catch them up with everything that happened while they were gone, especially Bronwyn’s visit and the plan to send Evan instead of them when Jason calls. Maude doesn’t seem very on board with this plan at first but agrees to try it out, trusting the coterie’s intentions. After that, the conversation turns to Maude’s haven and what the group had discussed previously. Clementine confesses that she took three of the letters and showed it to the rest- expressing her concern that this is a very big break of the Masquerade. “If a human ever comes into your haven and finds these letters and that wall… We’re all dead. And in fact, not just us, everyone else could also get in trouble for this, even Jason.” She tries to reason with them, the group insisting that they should get rid of both the letters and the wall. The wall is a harder ask, since Maude is very attached to it. Liliana persuades them that they could build it in the crypt instead and Mary points out that there was something else they could discover if she was allowed to look at it again and rearrange it, with Maude’s permission. Maude asks for time, a week maybe? But the group denies. “Three days.” Clementine says, looking at Mary and Liliana who nod in agreement, “Three days or we…” She trails off, finding the words hard to say out loud even now. “Or we take matters into our own hands.” Liliana finishes for her. Mary and Clementine nod in agreement, and after a pause, so does Maude. Normally they’d be a bit more gentle about this, but they’re all just so hungry.THE INVITATION
After the group turns to lighter conversation Elliot appears and informs them that someone is here to see them. Clem and Maude head up to greet whoever came to visit. They follow Elliot upstairs where the club is still packed. He takes them near the entrance where the same fancy dressed guy Maude knocked before stands nervously, looking down at a dirty up envelope nervously. He’s dressed in all white and wears a tag that reads “Joseph”. “You look lost, Joseph.” Clementine says with a smile. “Can we help you?” Joseph looks up at them and very nervously explains that he’s looking for The Lost Boys. He extends the letter to them. Clem raises an eyebrow at how dirty it looks which makes Joseph flinch, she smiles in amusement and grabs it. The envelope is dirty but otherwise very pretty, wax sealed and embossed beautifully with golden swirls and hand painted details. The letter inside is even more beautiful and smells amazing- it’s an invitation to a party hosted by the Primogen of the Toreador, Annabelle addressed to The Lost Boys. The party is to be held on December 25th and the theme is Biblical. Maude scoffs in disgust at the pretentiousness of it all while Clem can barely hold back an excited smile. Clem waves her hands in front of the cameras to alert Mary and Liliana to come up. Lilliana makes the keen observation that kindred etiquette would imply that Joseph is more than just a messenger - and in fact an appetizer for the night. Maude leads Joseph to the private areas created specifically for feeding. Liliana and Mary agree to feed from him, Joseph looks very excited about this, finally letting his nervousness fade away. Liliana feeds first, controlling herself just enough to not drink too much. As the smell of blood fills the air, Clementine covers her nose and mouth and looks away but Maude has to step away from the room to resist uncontrollably feeding, locking themselves in the office. Mary drinks for a little bit too long and while she’s able to pull away before anyone has to stop her, Joseph still falls limp in her arms. Clementine and Liliana take him from her with a laugh while Mary goes to join Maude at their behest. “Hey. What you in for?” Maude asks with a shiteating grin. “I just had my juice box ripped away from me.” Mary says simply while she plops down on a chair with a pout.THE GHOST
That same night, Mary makes sure to let Bronwyn know Maude is back, as she had requested. Next Monday a man dressed in all white alongside Stephanie - the women who was at the front desk of the Blue Velvet - walk into the Confessional with Bronwyn and follow the coterie to a VIP room. After getting confirmation from the group that the room can be cleared out, Bronwyn uses some of her powers and abruptly nudges all furniture against the walls. As lights flicker and a bulb explodes, Maude can barely see that whatever Bronwyn used wasn’t psychic powers but more like invisible creatures moving things for her. “Are you ready?” Stephanie asks Maude, who nods in agreement. Everyone stands aside as the man who has been silent this whole time, sits on a single chair left in the middle of the room, waiting. Bronwyn pulls out a knife and cuts both his wrist and lets the blood fall to the floor freely. She extends a hand to Maude who takes it with no hesitation and suddenly they can see so much more. Bronwyn stands in front of her surrounded by a huge flame-like aura, her eyes burning white hot like a phoenix. As they look around they notice that there’s creatures floating and weaving in and out crevices and through the walls everywhere, constantly moving. With a lot of curiosity, they turn towards their friends.MARYWhile Maude takes this all in, they see from the corner of their eye as a figure slowly comes down through the cracks on the ceiling. They turn back to Bronwyn and can see her looking at the wispy figure of a humanoid dressed in a suit, their skin red, horns protruding from their forehead. The creature looks at Bronwyn and then at the man in the center of the room. “You bring me such an exquisite sacrifice. I imagine it is not for free.” The figure tells Bronwyn, just as the life leaves the body of the man and they lay motionless on the chair. Bronwyn opens her mouth and a voice Maude had never heard before comes out of it, her actual voice, “You’re right. I have not given this to you for free. You will protect this one,” she says to the figure, pointing at Maude. The creature looks at Maude for a moment and frowns, “I don’t like this.” they say with a shake of their head. “You don’t have to. You just have to do what I say.” Bronwyn replies simply, leaving no room for objections. The figure approaches Maude and touches their shoulder, it feels cold. “Hi, I’m Erik.” He tells them as he plucks what seems to be an eyeball that was floating next to Maude's head out of the air and eats it. Bronwyn lets go of Maude’s hand and suddenly the world returns to normal, leaving Maude a bit disoriented. They cannot see Erik anymore, but oddly, they can still feel his hand on their shoulder. Stephanie steps forward then, “It’s done.” She says, addressing the whole group. They can see Bronwyn seems noticeably exhausted after this ordeal and it’s taking everything in her to not collapse to the floor. “Your companion is now free from onlookers.” As they’re making their way out Liliana approaches Stephanie and apologizes for breaking her arm sincerely. The woman nods in acknowledgement but says nothing else. They leave soon after that, leaving Maude to explain all they saw to the group.
Her figure stands there as she normally appears, but behind her is a green web that’s ever growing and the legs of a huge spider stretch and move across the web. She’s standing in a graveyard and next to her is a headstone with her name. LILIANA
Behind Liliana is the shape of a big bad wolf rising, its claws reaching out to everyone else, its eyes sharp as it licks its snout hungrily. She stands on a stage, with a crowd of people bowing down to her. KIM
Kim stands on a graveyard with the headstones of all the coterie surrounding her. CLEMENTINE
Clementine’s aura is dark, like a shadow and it stretches outward behind her as a huge silhouette of herself. The shadow is climbing up a wall, each stepping stone looks like a person they have met before until the last people she uses to climb are the rest of The Lost Boys, who she discards as she climbs to the top.
DOWNTIME
For the next few weeks the coterie start new projects and meet with different people.MARY
Still feeling very ashamed for the way things went with Bronwyn, Mary offers to be of service to her. She spends time with Bronwyn for the next few weeks, improving the security of the elder vampire’s domain and haven. Mary learns that Bronwyn is very inexperienced with technology and leaves such duties to her ghouls.MAUDE
With Turner’s help, Maude starts acquiring books and setting up bookshelves in the crypt to start a small library.CLEMENTINE
Following her agreement with Sierra, she introduces her to the Seneschal and it goes great. She also starts offering her business and service to different people in vampire society to get better known around influential circles. She invites Sierra to Annabelle’s party.LILIANA
Motivated by recent events, Liliana starts setting up a security business. She meets with Rosa one day who tells Liliana that it looks like she has been gaining popularity among the Gangrels for having killed a werewolf- they are calling her Lycan Killer. She also informs her that more and more people are finding out she’s McTavish’s childe. Rosa needs Liliana’s help- she knows The Lost Boys have talked to Flyboy before and wishes they go to him once again on her behalf. She tells Liliana that she’s under Prince orders to investigate the attacks on The Succubus Club and Jason’s domain. She explains that the night The Succubus Club was burned, she saw four figures that she couldn’t recognize but seemed familiar so she followed them. She lost track of them around the hospital on Jason’s domain, but one of her contacts has more information. She takes Liliana to meet a Gangrel named Darren. “So this is Mctavish’s childe.” Is the first thing he says in a deep scratchy voice as he eyes Liliana. His features are very animalistic, his clothes are messy and his hair is short but shaggy. He explains that he was following that same group of four since they left Gary- they’re a young independent coterie, not Anarch or Camarilla. They crossed Anarch’s territory unannounced and now they're causing trouble in Chicago so he wanted to get to them, but it seems they’ve been set up. A gangrel named Scion Middleton, better known as Snowman was part of that coterie. The name rings a bell and Liliana mentions that it's the same people that attacked their domain that morning. Darren saw them get jumped at the hospital and thinks it might be the CIA. He saw four bodies bagged in metallised film being dragged into four black vans each. The vans then head towards the O’hare International Airport and he lost track of it there. Both Darren and Rosa have been trying to get in contact with Flyboy to get more information but he has not cooperated. Darren thinks they should just force him out of the airport and beat the information out of him, which Rosa also wishes she could do but can’t per the Prince’s request. Darren says his goodbyes, explaining he’ll be heading back to Gary. Liliana agrees to help as much as she can.THE HAUNTED BUILDING
In preparation to steal the Hecata fortune Mary had found out about, Clementine asks Elliot to set up the selling and transportation of the loot while the coterie takes care of making sure the building is secure. Elliot hires a group of humans to help load the prize and move it to a secure location- this group is unaware of the supernatural but are professional enough to be discreet as long as they don’t see anything too crazy. The Lost Boys arrive at the location in the South Loop where Hatmakers Incorporated have their headquarters. The building seems abandoned for all intents and purposes, but Maude notices a set of tracks that seem to come in and out of the building’s gated entrance, some of the tracks as recent as today going in, but not yet coming out. The building is six floors tall and dark, with only the first floor’s windows boarded up while the rest remain closed shut but unblocked. They cannot see any cameras around the perimeter and the main door is locked from the other side. Clementine jumps up to the second floor and stealthily walks in through a window. She can see the silhouette of architecture and similar utensils and materials on top of desks and along the whole floor. While making her way to the stairs slowly and carefully she is attacked by a cutting blade that seemingly fell from out of nowhere. She sets it back down slowly to not make noise and keeps moving. Near the stairs she sees a pencil case on a nearby table shake on its own, but she ignores it and rushes by to go down the stairs and opens the door for the others. “This place is 100% haunted.” She whispers as the others start to sneak in. The first floor is empty so they keep moving towards the second floor where the pencil case attacks an invisible Mary, dealing a good amount of damage. As the pencils, rulers and other such utensils come flying towards her she hears an eerie voice whisper:“You shouldn’t be here. LEAVE”Once they get to the third floor Liliana spots a body hanging in one of the rooms- She turns to tell the others about it but once they turn back to look, the body is not there. Very disturbed by this new turn of events, the group keeps going up to the fourth floor where they can finally spot a few valuable items as well as some chemical lab tables that are mostly empty. Maude heads to the back of the rooms where they find an old 1940’s rifle with a bayonet- a bit rusty and in need of maintenance but might come in handy later. They take it as the rest head to the fifth floor where there are more high value items separated in different rooms. As the group ascends, a shape of a person hanging upside down chases Kim and drags her to the ceiling then throws her back to the floor, almost killing her. Maude rushes to her and gives some of their blood, effectively healing the worst of her wounds. Finally on the sixth floor stands a single creature, humanoid in shape but bigger than usual. It is holding a rope in one hand and a hatchet in the other. The group exchanges looks and rush the creature, Clementine jumping on him first. She slashes at the creature and dodges his first attack with the hatched, it doesn’t make a sound or react in pain at the damage. Liliana comes in next, dealing more damage with her claws while the rest of the group shoot their guns from afar. The creature lifts his rope and lashes it around Clementine’s neck with brutal force- it drags her up to the ceiling where she struggles to set herself free. Maude approaches the creature while it’s distracted, splitting open their wrist and pouring their blood on it. Just like the bodies at the lakehouse, the creature begins to slowly dissolve from the power of Maude’s discipline. After another round of attacks, the creature collapses under the combined effort of the group and sinks to the floor before dissolving completely, it’s body bubbling and bloating with rapid decomposition before vanishing into nothingness. Suddenly, the electricity in the building flickers on and the elevator lets out a soft “ping”, signifying that whatever magic had a hold on this place is now gone. And so The Lost Boys stand victorious, very hurt but very rich, hehehehehe.
Report Date
15 Jun 2023
