2020-07-28
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
INVOLVED PARTIES
INCIDENT REPORT
- Several nights have passed since the city's Primogen decided upon the fate of Clan Lasombra. With the help of the coterie, it was determined that Lasombra refugees shall be admitted into the Camarilla. The only stipulation being that a Lasombra elder must also be presented — in order to be tried and executed. It's a one-for-one trade that the Camarilla is more than happy to see play out.
Rumors spread that Rico Conway has been stripped of his position as Sheriff, and is currently awaiting punishment for his outburst at the decision. The lack of a Camarilla enforcer may prove serendipitous however, as word has spread through the Anarch community of an upcoming rant.
The coterie had originally been informed of this rant by Edmund Bruck, Baron of the Bronx. He suggested that they attend as his eyes and ears, relaying all pertinent information to him afterward. As the coterie is from Brooklyn, and thus not under the purview of Bruck's barony, their presence at the rant will be in an entirely unofficial capacity.
- The night of the rant see the coterie assemble at the Mosh Pit. It's busy, which is typical for a Saturday. The headlining act for the evening is Irish Spring, a Celtic punk band known for songs such as "Mortars Over Newry", "Fuck Me, I'm Irish", and "Peace Lines (Knock 'em Down)".
Aradia flirts with — and feeds from — the bassist of the band after their set. Josi meets up with her new ghoul, Chad, to give him some vitae (and a handjob). Leah riles up the crowd, pointing them toward the former site of the Cherry Pit to release their frustrations.
- The coterie pile into Aradia's car and head to the rant at Van Cortlandt Park, in the Bronx. Once there, Aradia ensures that her car is secured — sliding the stereo out and into the trunk, locking the wheel with a trusty Club, etc.
The park is being casually guarded by a couple of stereotypical punks. They accost the coterie about being Camarilla sympathizers, but eventually let them in after being patted down for weapons.
- Deeper into the park, the scene opens up to reveal a recessed, ringed amphitheater of sorts. A cinder block and plywood stage dot the center, with a thrash metal quartet currently atop it. The inner most ring is a constantly churning mosh pit of leather-clad bodies, making full rotations around the stage. The wider area is a shoulder-to-shoulder crowd of hundreds of bikers, punks, goths, and more.
- Sophia nudges her way into the mosh pit, while Aradia approaches the biggest guy she can find, and asks for a lift onto his shoulders. It's Ajax, the Sargent-at-Arms for the Pendragons. He's amused by the request, but complies. From her new vantage point, Aradia picks Rudi out from the crowd.
- Rudi is pleased to see the coterie, explaining that he will be taking to the stage later, though suspects most have actually come to hear Sage speak. He's sympathetic toward the tough position that the Camarilla had placed the coterie in, and thinks that the rant may provide just what they need to hear.
- At this point, Nero Rivera appears, happy to have found Ajax. He introduces himself as the Road Captain for the Pendragons. Him and Ajax are there on behalf of Baron Callahan. In the course of conversation, the subject of the newly Camarilla-aligned Lasombra come up. Nero suggests that if the coterie truly wants to head off any incoming refugees, that they shouldn't focus exclusively on the airports. Instead, they should also consider the docks... which Marcel Francois has considerable influence over.
- Leah and Josi are pointed toward Marcel. He sticks out like a sore thumb in his white linens and straw fedora. Upon introductions, Marcel responds kindly, his Caribbean accent further punctuating his happy tone. He and Josi share some French dialogue, speaking on the history of Saint-Domingue. He goes on to explain that he has considerable influence over the docks in Jersey City, and can keep an eye open for any Lasombra refugees coming ashore on that side of the Hudson River. He takes one of Josi's business cards, saying he'll give her a call if anything comes up.
- Aradia spots Jezebel and Vixen. Dismounting from Ajax, she approaches the two Gangrel on her own. They're apparently at the rant as Baron Bruck's official representatives. They seem to be unaware that Aradia was also sent by Bruck, though in an unofficial capacity. Aradia attempts to regale Jezebel with stories of her past, explaining her Roma heritage, Stregheria beliefs, and reverence for nature. She hopes to join the Jawbreakers for a hunt sometime. Jezebel mentions that there is an upcoming Wild Hunt to commemorate the approach of Halley's Comet, but isn't particularly keen to share it with a Tremere.
- The coterie is approached by an unassuming man with a large, shoulder-mounted video camera. He introduces himself as Tom Riley, explaining that he's here to capture this "historic moment in the Anarch movement". In fact, he bought this camera just for the occasion — got a great deal on it at the RadioShack in Flushing. The coterie yell and threaten him to get out of their face, with Leah even going so far as to pay an enthusiastic biker to go assault him and destroy the video tape.
- The coterie speaks with Nathaniel Ballard and Amelia Locke, from the Théâtre de Douleur in Staten Island. They have come on behalf of Baron de Troyes. They tell Josi that they know her friend, Étienne. In fact, he will be in an upcoming production of "Bram Stoker's Dracula" with them. Josi spends over $300 on pre-sale tickets to the show, with Nathaniel giving her enough handwritten tickets for her entire coterie, as well as Alter and Camilla.
Aradia asks if they know anything about the Thin-Bloods in their area developing some kind of blood sorcery. Nathaniel is reluctant to speak on it, but Amelia is more than happy to tell what she knows. Apparently, there are rumors of such things in Staten Island, but they don't personally interact with the Thin-Bloods — they're beneath them. They do know that quite a few hang out at the Sunrise Cafe however.
- Josi spots Alter in the crowd, and surprises him. She catches him up on the past few days. He mentions that Sheriff Conway was originally appointed during the reign of Prince Calebros, a Nosferatu who abdicated his position after breaking the Sabbat occupation. As a wartime Prince, he answered to no Primogen. Sheriff Conway was fiercely loyal, perhaps due to clan ties, and was one of the few appointed personnel that Prince Cortés kept into her reign.
- The music cuts out and Sage Matthews takes to the stage, speaking with zeal:"You are all slaves! Got your attention? Good, listen up! You were slaves in life – slaves to money, slaves to religion, slaves born into an abusive society. Some of us were literal slaves, whipped and branded with a yoke around our necks. And that shit didn’t end in 1865, not with pricks like Edmund Bruck still living high off the spoils. Hell, just last year, just two hours south of here, the Philadelphia PD and the FBI assembled hundreds of jackbooted goons to shootup, gas, and bomb an entire neighborhood. Sixty-five houses burnt to the ground, killing a dozen of our brothers and sisters, along with their children. What were their crimes? They were members of MOVE, a black liberation and animal rights group.
Now for every one of you out there nodding your heads, the person standing next to you is secure in their smugness. That’s right, I see you. You think you’re above this. That human prejudice and human politics don’t affect you. That you’ve somehow ascended. But here’s the thing, we’ve all traded in that yoke of slavery for something else in death – now we’re slaves to the burning hunger inside, slaves to the promise of surviving to another sunset, slaves to self-styled Princes and Barons.
Maybe some of you fought against The Man™ when you were alive, though I suspect more than a few of you were happy in your ignorance and complacency. But now that Man is a bloodsucking Monster, and it’s telling you that you have everything to lose. You’re immortal, you could live forever. Just keep your head down and follow orders. Well fuck that! No one holds command over me. No man. No god. No Prince. Tell me, what is a claim of age for those who are immortal? What is a claim of power for those who defy death? I say this, Prince Cortés – call your damnable blood hunts, and we shall see who I drag screaming to hell with me!"
- The crowd erupts into cheers, though Sage only basks in the accomplishment momentarily. Eventually, Rudi ascends the stage, and takes the microphone. The crowd begins to chant his name, forcing him to pause as it quiets, allowing him to speak:
"Can you licks count?! Y’all know me. Y’all know what I’m about. I don’t fuck much with the past, but I fuck plenty with the future… and the future is ours… if… you… can… count. Just look what we have here. We’ve got representatives from 200 coteries in this city. We’ve got the Blackjacks sitting next to the Mach-Men. We’ve got the Moonrunners right by the Yo-yo’s. We’ve got the Meatpackers beside the Mutilators. Nobody’s wasting nobody. And that’s a miracle. And miracles is the way things ought to be.
So can you count?! Because you’re standing right now with five licks from 200 coteries. And there’s over a hundred more in the city. That’s 1,500 hardcore bloodsuckers. Add another 500 for affiliates, and another 2,000 more that aren’t organized but are ready to fight. Suddenly you have 4,000 soldiers. That’s like four army battalions!
Can you dig it? I said, can you dig it?!
We could run this whole place. No more begging for hunting rights from the Camarilla. No more Barons setting themselves up as petite Princes. That ain’t revolution, and it ain’t about to help me or you. But we got the streets, and ain’t nobody in this city safe unless we say so. BECAUSE. WE. ARE. THE. POWER. Only thing stopped us before was our own fighting. We been fighting for ten square feet of ground… our little piece of turf… our domains. That’s shit, brothers and sisters, because it’s all our turf.
They kept us on the bottom long enough. Centuries and centuries, and centuries. All we gotta do is stick together. We take one borough at a time, secure our territory. Secure our domains… because it’s all our domain!"
- Suddenly, during Rudi's rant, Aradia and Josi notice a hazy red beam cutting its way through the sky. It's faint, but it's forming a small dot on Rudi's chest. Before anyone can react, the nighttime air cracks with a series of sharp explosions. The red laser light is replaced by a stream of molten orange flame. Two of these tracer rounds hit Rudi from downrange, each seemingly exploding on impact. They ignite in a vibrant, phosphorus display, quickly turning the old plywood stage into a small inferno.
- The crowd descends into chaos, with most running away from the fire. Aradia however weaves through the crowd, moving ever closer toward it. Likewise, Leah uses daunt to clear a path forward for the rest of the coterie. The fire is too much however, and everyone but Aradia and Josi succumb to Rotschreck.
Mustering all of the willpower they have, and pushing through the searing pain of the flames, Aradia and Josi are able to pull Rudi's body out. Josi tears open a blood bag, pouring it into Rudi's mouth. He's in torpor — and the two chunks missing from his chest don't look too good — but he's not yet met the final death.
- Some of the crowd begin calling out that the coterie must be responsible for this, given their perceived sympathies for the Camarilla. Before the angry mob can enclose the coterie however, spotlights flood the amphitheater. A police speaker crackles to life, order everyone to surrender as a helicopter appears from behind the treeline.
Thinking it best to leave, Aradia wraps Rudi's mangled body in a leather jacket and carries him from the scene. Unfortunately, her car is still in the parking lot, behind a line of heavily armed cops. Sophia tries to approach the gates peacefully, but is denied any sort of clemency. Then, as Leah comes out into the light, the horrified SWAT team begins to open fire. Sophia and Leah both soak up minor gunshot wounds as they flee back into the park.
- Running as fast as they can through the park, Rudi's mangled body in tow, the coterie intends to slip out through the neighboring golf course or cemetery. Unfortunately, they are ambushed by a large group of vampires, assumed to also be fleeing from police presence. More than a few appear to be on the verge of frenzy, as one steps forward, demanding that Rudi's body be handed over. In fact, he insists, and uses Dominate on Aradia to achieve as much. The group closes in, forming a barrier of sorts between Rudi and the coterie. They intend to attack, claiming that the coterie are just "Cammie bitches".
- Telling the others to run, Sophia stays behind. She turns to face the approaching mob, poised and without fear. She clenches her fists and takes in a deep breath — perhaps instinctually as her undead lungs have no need of oxygen. Her foot taps to the chorus of an unheard fugue, her long since desiccated heart seemingly pumping to the beat of war drums. With a sly grin, her lips part and her throat erupts into an eerie melody.Sustained without lyrics, this discord emanating from within Sophia builds to a sharp crescendo and explodes into a directed, sustained scream. From a distance, the sound is hauntingly alluring, like a siren beckoning one to atonement upon rocky shores. But those within the directed undertow of this acoustic wave experience only a harsh, persistent dissonance. The supernal frequency is enough to cause physical harm even to Kindred, as precious vitae flows freely from ears, eyes, and nostrils. Though perhaps more startling is this primal cacophony’s ability to rouse the Beast within its target, driving many to frenzy. The mob turns inward on itself, lost in maddening abandon. The coterie lose sight of Sophia as her form is swallowed by the sea of thrashing bodies..
MUSIC FROM THE SUCCUBUS CLUB
THE CONCLAVE
Enable comment auto-refresher