2020-05-05

INVOLVED PARTIES

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INCIDENT REPORT

• The coterie exits JFK International Airport with the large crate in tow. They find the van that Prince Cortes provided waiting for them with the driver, Mrs. Greene already seated. Aradia sweeps the vehicle for explosives as the crate is loaded.

• Most of the coterie sits in the van's segregated cargo area. Leah sits in the front passenger seat as Mrs. Greene navigates through the evening traffic, and detours around some road work. She starts to suspect that the van is being kettled into the outskirts of the borough.

• In back, the coterie opens the crate. Inside is a body bag, sealed from the outside. Within the body bag is a woman with a wooden stake in her chest. Hoping that the staked woman can still perceive her surroundings, Aradia relays their mission to her, then removes the stake.

• As she comes to, the previously staked woman introduces herself as Catalina Castaneda, the Lasombra delegate that the Prince spoke of. Upon asked, she informs the coterie that she was staked by her ghoul for easier transport, and that she has come to New York to negotiate her clan's defection from the Sabbat and its entry into the Camarilla.

• The discussion is interrupted as the van comes to a stop. The intersection ahead is blocked by a traffic accident. Leah immediately knows that something is wrong and exits the van. The front doors lock behind her, as the rear door unlocks, prompting the rest of the coterie to step out.

• Traffic is well backed up at this point, but several cars back, four thugs exit a vehicle. They quickly approach, guns drawn, and open fire on the van and the coterie. Leah quietly maneuvers through the cars, and Josi takes cover, but several bullets land in Aradia and Sophia. Before they can get another round of fire off, the four thugs are set upon. Leah slashes with claws, Aradia punches with brass knuckles, and Sophia swings a crowbar. The thugs are mortal, and they bleed well.

• As this happens, Kalliste has gone around to the front of the van, intimidating Mrs. Greene into unlocking the van and tossing her sidearm across the seat.

• With three of the thugs down, the fourth attempts to escape, but is quickly caught by Leah. He's loaded into the back of the van, along with Mrs. Greene. Leah hopes in the driver's seat, with Josi riding shotgun. The coterie continues onward, realizing that their back up -- Alter and Camilla -- may have gotten lost in all of the detours.

• Josi's pocket begins to vibrate. It's the pager that Anatole gave her. It reads: “drop cmprmsed / seek alt / call whn secure”. With this new information, the coterie decides to head back to Leah's haven, The Mosh Pit.

• While en route, Kalliste leads an interrogation on Mrs. Greene and the captured thug. During which it is revealed that the thugs were from Rochester, making good on a hit put out by a woman claiming to be the Ventrue Primogen of New York. They were supposed to bring Catalina to the medical waste disposal facility at the Flower-Fifth Avenue Hospital. The thug is kicked from the moving van, while Mrs. Green is kept for further questioning. She doesn't seem to know much however. The reason becomes apparent as her eyes suddenly widen, her voice stuttering in confusion. She had apparently been Dominated and doesn't remember anything.

The Mosh Pit is Leah's personal haven, though acts as a central hub for the entire coterie.

• Back at The Mosh Pit, Leah has her security personnel dump the van. She also makes arrangements to house the disheveled Mrs. Greene, essentially adding her to her "herd".

• Josi uses the telephone behind the bar to call Anatole back. He informs her the coterie transporting the second Lasombra delegate was ambushed. All were killed, save for the Lasombra — Jasib Alcala — and his own two ghouls. Anatole asks if they want Jasib to rendezvous at their location, but drops the subject afterward without being given the address. In any case, he urges the coterie to hunker down for the day, so that they may bring Catalina to the Metropolitan Museum of Art the following night, to be presented at Elysium.

• Aradia uses the phone to call Camilla's penthouse, but only gets the answering machine.

• Kalliste uses the phone to call a client of theirs to reschedule.

• The coterie awakes the next night. Leah's security informs her that a couple of individuals were lingering outside throughout the day, potentially casing the venue. They left a couple hours before dusk however.

• The phone rings. It's Alter, with Camilla in the background. He's relieved to speak with Josi. He informs her that they lost sight of the van while navigating through the city. As a fallback, he and Camilla instead went ahead to the address of the safehouse, but found it compromised. They ended up staying in Camilla's penthouse in Manhattan.

• To get to The MET, the coterie splits up. Leah and Josi take a van used for moving musical equipment. It's intentionally obvious, so as to draw any potential tails. Aradia, Sophia, and Kalliste take Catalina into the subway.

• Within a short period of time, Leah and Josi find a city bus bearing down on them. Leah can't shake it in the traffic of the city streets however, and instead tries to maneuver the van onto the freeway. The bus smashes into them at the entrance of the on-ramp, flipping the van onto its side.

• Leah and Josi free themselves from the wreckage and scatter. Leah starts sprinting back toward the Mosh Pit. Josi heads into a nearby alleyway, pursued by a the wiry man who was driving the bus. She waits around a corner, holding the gun taken from Mrs. Greene. As the bus driver rounds the corner, Josi fires point blank into his face. He screams in pain, grasping at what is left of his face. He's not mortal. Josi takes the opportunity to grab the man, nearly ripping his jaw off as she pushes his head aside, sinking her fangs into his neck. The man flails in pain from the Hecata bite before being drained to near torpor. Josi isn't sated though, and rushes into a nearby manhole to grab a rat or two...

• As this is occurring, Aradia, Sophia, Kalliste, and Catalina encounter trouble on the subway. Though sparsely populated at this time of evening, a new passenger crosses over from a following car. She wastes no time demanding that Catalina be handed over, hesitating only long enough to exchange threats with Kalliste. A brutish man with a spiked baseball bat steps in from the preceding car. The coterie is now sandwiched, and in this moment of distraction, the woman grabs a mortal hostage, holding them at gunpoint.

• Without warning, the scene in the subway car descends into darkness. Not the darkness of the night, but a somehow more malevolent force. The surrounding atmosphere feels thicker, almost like moving in water. The air becomes icy, chilling even the undead right to their bone. All sound becomes muffled, and even ones own voice becomes lost in the surrounding tenebrous void. And almost as soon as it appeared, this oblivious envelopment vanishes. In its wake is a scene of horror; the entire subway car is coated in blood, with pieces of flesh and bone scattered about. The two thugs are nowhere to be seen, yet the handful of mortal passengers (and the hostage) now cower behind seats. In the center of this, Catalina stands without a drop of blood on her. This black force, whatever it was, clearly originated from her, and has left her noticeably exhausted.

• The group exits the subway at the next stop, putting them at the edge of Central Park, and right across from the MET. Catalina waits at the station as the rest go into the public restroom to try to clean up. Aradia and Sophia mostly just smear the blood from their eyes. Kalliste however is able to make the look somehow work, coming out of the restroom like a walking piece of art — perhaps an abstract painting with some deeper political message?

• Leah makes it back to the Mosh Pit, and has her head of security — Archer — driver her to The MET in his shiny sedan.

THE CONCLAVE

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