Story Notes
Book II
BOOK II: Gave Proof Through the Night
A Midnight Siege Chronicle
Story 1: A New Family
Chapter 1: A Scholar’s Tale
BOOK II, Story 1, Chapter 1, part 1: La Famiglia
Gwenevieve Rossellini is born a rare revenant ghoul in the Giovanni Clan’s blood/breeding experiments in creating a new line of necromantic revenants. She and her twin sister Agatha are picked out from an early age from their many relations for “special treatment” in the manor house. Life on the Rossellini compound is all that young Gwenevieve knows in her formative years growing up in what she would only later come to know is rural New Jersey in the 1930s. Gwen and her sister both had an aptitude for piercing the sudario with their sight and both were slow to age with the ghoul blood flowing through them “naturally,” but the Giovanni family had need of only one to embrace. Either Agatha would need to learn to stop protecting her weaker twin or Gwen would need to find a deep ruthlessness within her for the Family to decide on the right candidate. In the end, much to the surprise of Agatha, Gwen plunged a knife in her sister’s back after Agatha had refused to murder her. The visiting Anziani was pleased and had Gwen rewarded with the Embrace by a reluctant Rossellini sire, Gabriella. Following Gwen’s horrific transformation, she is shipped off to the Giovanni stronghold of Boston and sees the contours of the world beyond the walls of the Rossellini estate for the first time in her fifty years.
BOOK II, Story 1, Chapter 1, part 2: The Well of Souls
The newly-embraced Rossellini necromancer flies in a flaming metal bird, to her eyes, to Boston Logan Airport and is met in a private hanger by a tall, bespectacled patrician man standing outside of a black SUV. The Kindred introduces himself as Jonathan Milliner, a fellow member of the extended “family.” He explains that while Andreas Giovanni is largely the ruler of the night in Boston, appearances dictate that the Camarilla court of the Malkavian Prince King be placated with the “presentation” of Gwenevieve at the Custom House Tower. Gwen can sense spiriti circling about the court, constantly spying upon the Prince and his followers.
After sufficiently allaying the fears of the mad old prince by proclaiming their adherence to the Promise of 1528, the Giovanni delegation makes their way to the docks and takes a boat to the center of Boston Harbor. Gwen can reach out and perceive a wall of screaming souls guarding the tiny wooded island.
It is here, past the Sudario in a tiny manor house, that Gwen’s true Presentation will take place. The only building on the tiny island is a ramshackle, if formerly stately, home. It is only seemingly abandoned: for beyond the shroud in the dwelling is a closely-guarded secret of the Family. Within is a shroud dimension workspace, ossuary and fortress. But most importantly, housed within is the Well of Souls. Gwen comes to learn that there are five of these wells in Family strongholds across the world.
Gwenevieve is presented to Uncle Andreas. He welcomes her to study under Marco and alongside fellow neonate, Francesca. Gwenevieve takes an immediate dislike to Francesca and sees to it that her studies do not progress in the way she might have hoped. Gwen is, nonetheless, tasked with helping to maintain the Well alongside her Uncle Giancarlo. She possesses an innate ability to see past the shroud, given to her by the blood experiments in her birth. Years pass as Gwen delves ever deeper into the mysteries of necromancy and the many Paths it opens unto her.
BOOK II, Story 1, Chapter 1, part 3: The Shroud Shudders
Gwenevieve has become a master necromancer in a blisteringly short amount of time. After only about a decade of study, Gwen has emerged as a prodigy of Death. One night, Gwen was surprised by a flaming swirling mass of metal and fire as it descended past the ghostly shroud wall and landed next to the manor house in the center of the isle. The mass turned out to be a helicopter, but to Gwen’s Rossellini eyes, reality can sometimes be difficult to perceive. Gwen found that her fellow soul-gaoler, Giancarlo, was missing from his post at the Well. She went to the center of the Loggia to find her family standing around, looking sullen and vaguely frightened. Uncle Andreas left the room and Jonathan Milliner told Gwen that her Aunt Lucretia had come to visit her. Lucretia is known as a member of the vaunted Anziani and one of the driving forces behind the Family’s Rossellini ghoul bloodline project. Gwen meets Lucretia in one of the Family libraries. The elder offers Gwenevieve an ashen cake. Upon tasting it, Gwen knows it to be the remains of her former mentor, Giancarlo. Lucretia tells her “niece” about her new posting for the Family. She is to travel to the District of Columbia in the Camarilla Principality of Georgetown. The Family has a small embassy there at the weed-choked old Congressional Cemetery. Her task is to pose as an assistant to Dr. Genet (a Giovanni by marriage), but to actually be investigating the “disturbance” detected in the Sudario and other such missions as the Family sees fit to inform her of as events progress.
Gwenevieve flies into BWI airport in Baltimore. There, she is greeted by her “Uncle Carlo.” He pays off the Sabbat representatives of the Archbishop and takes Gwenevieve by car to cross the border into Camarilla territory. She is presented to Prince George and his court at the Smithsonian Castle. Later, Gwen meets her would-be supervisor, Dr. Genet and her long-forgotten little brother-now-personal-ghoul, Giuseppi.
Chapter 2: Spirit of Night
BOOK II, Story 1, Chapter 2, part 1: Fireside
Rose wakes on Frieda’s farm near Lovettsville, Va. — far away from the strife of Georgetown. Rose is forlorn, and a bit at a loss for what to do. Frieda acknowledges her friend, but suggests they go their separate ways to find some food. Rose scouts about and soon learns that fish blood is not very appetizing. The wayward Gangrel waits in a clearing when she notices a creature staring at her from the line of trees down the river. The creature is like no other creature Rose has witnessed: no scent, not a single indication that it passed by. Rose gives chase, but it is to no avail. Later in the clearing, Rose uses preternatural senses to note that all of the workers on Frieda’s farm exude estrogen.
Frieda has some ratty clothes for Rose to wear, but Rose does manage to turn the XXX-Large Metallica t-shirt into a suitable dress. The pair take off in Frieda’s truck even further into the mountains on the West Virginia border. Experience has taught Rose to be fearful of Lupines in such a place (or “Garou,” as Frieda has called them), but there is no scent in the air of the creatures. High in the wooded mountains, Rose and Frieda go as wolves by foot, leaving the truck behind. They climb at last to a cave entrance surrounded by mountain lions and a few women. As Rose gets closer, she can sense the women are all Kindred. The mountain lions watch the two wolves as they enter the cave.
Rose is introduced to “Nana,” a middle-aged looking Native American woman, who asks Rose to make them a fire. Rose transforms to do so. Nana, or Kahenta, asks Rose to tell her about how Rose came to be in that spot, and in return, Nana was to tell Rose her story. Nana could sense the “extra spirit” wrestling inside of Rose: a remnant of diablerie. Nana offers Rose the ability to cleanse her body of the spirit and be free of him forever.
BOOK II, Story 1, Chapter 2, part 2: The Sisterhood
Rose hears tales of Nana and her transformation from spirit healer of her people to wondering force of vengeance for women and protector of the spirit world. Nana lacks the ability to sire, exactly, but she can transform other Kindred (particularly Gangrel) with the power of the spirits into something . . . else. She offers this to Rose, but only if Rose can throw off the diablerie within her and to fully embrace the spiritual feminine within herself. Rose asents and Nana prepares the ritual for the rest of the night. Rose makes contact with the tiny Zeke soul trapped inside of her psyche. Rose, Freida and two of the Sisterhood go into the wilderness to hunt. Rose fills herself with the bounty of the wood, but no more than is necessary. Rose beds down for the day and grapples with the clawing talons of Zeke in her scull. The following night, Rose talks further with some of the sisters and is determined to stay the course for a spiritual transformation, a “re-embrace” of sorts with the aid of the spirits and Nana’s blood. After a consultation with Nana, Rose lays on the rock of the cave alone. Mountain lions enter and surround her, but then great half-cat creatures enter and startle Rose. Only Nana is able to calm Rose down from the fright of seeing such a creature for the first time. Rose lays back down and, after consenting, is exsanguinated by Nana. Nana spits Rose’s blood into the fire, the Sisters (some in “human” form, others in the forms of these cat creatures and Freida in her wolf form) circle the supine Rose, chanting. Rose loses consciousness and is brought into a realm of the mind: an abandoned and gray gas station from one of Zeke’s memories. There, Rose must physically and psychically battle the angry spirit within her. Even as Rose’s talons gain purchase, the scene in her mind morphs into her as a child Zeke, with Zeke’s father coming in to beat him. Rose-as-Zeke runs out of the mind-constructed bedroom and into the darkness. There, Rose confronts Zeke and bests him. In the end, she is left with a crying boy at her feet. She sends the spirit on his way and hugs him before he goes. At that, Rose awakens. Still surrounded by the chanting Sisterhood, Rose is told that only the first part has been completed as she has expunged the soul trapped within her. But now, she must let the spirits in to her and allow them to do their work, reforming her into the spiritual warrior that they need. The spirits lash at Rose’s flesh, burrowing deep within and creating spiritual scars forming patterns. Rose passes out from the pain and ecstasy.
Read Rose’s Story: “Under The Moon” linking “The Sisterhood” to “Rose Bloom” here.
Rose undergoes a spiritual and physical transformation in the Sisterhood’s “re-embrace.” After rising from her nights of spiritual battle and acceptance, Rose finds herself still in the cave of the Sisterhood in the Appalachian Mountains. Rose speaks with Nana before departing to find the will of the spirits and save a sliver of the world. First, Rose heads for Shenandoah National Park to revisit old memories, meld with the earth and learn the secrets of the essence of nature. Rose is caught by the sight of a strange star-like impression in the distance in a new “sense” that she never posessed before. Rose follows these senses and flies through the wilds of Virginia and eventually sees what she can only describe as “ley lines.” Wisps of light guide her through her journey toward a convergence of several of these lines. In a cornfield outside of Manassas, Rose first sets eyes upon a temple, shining in blue/white light in her new sight. And standing atop it, a wispy woman with pale skin and long black hair.
BOOK II, Story 1, Chapter 2, part 3: Rose Bloom
Chapter 3: War Correspondent
BOOK II, Story 1, Chapter 3, part 1: No One Left Behind
Harold completes his Operative training and is Presented before the Princes of the Potomac Empire. He fails to make a good impression upon the Toreador Prince and Arts Council of the north and is made very aware that he is not welcome in court, though may skulk around the Domain as long as he stays out of trouble. H.B., going by the pseudonym “Dr. Book,” is Presented as Mary’s childe in Tremere-dominated Alexandria, where he is given a better reception. H.B. doesn’t have much time to settle in before a Sabbat attack on Georgetown throws everything into turmoil. H.B.’s first real mission is to seek out the whereabouts of his fellow Operative Henry Pine and to determine the state of affairs topside. After H.B. reports back, he argues that no one should be left behind. His sire agrees and Harold is given leave to travel to the smoothskin lands once more to continue his mission.
BOOK II, Story 1, Chapter 3, part 2: War Zone
“Dr. Book” is sent topside by the Nosferatu Commune. His mission is to find the whereabouts of missing Operative “Henry Pine” and to ascertain the severity of the Sabbat attack on the Camarilla forces of the cities above. In tracking Henry, he begins by searching Vitus Armandasanti’s manor, where Henry was last stationed on his own mission for the Commune. H.B. finds the place to be a gravesite for the tactical force killed there. A great firefight had gone on, yet the police had not been alerted. H.B. uses his investigative and security skills to determine what transpired: attack by shadow-weaving Sabbat with other tactical forces, overwhelming the Ventrue’s defenses. H.B. hurriedly destroys much of the video evidence in the security room, though keeps a few tapes. He also discovers Jinx’s journal. He reads a few passages and realizes the possible importance of it and so takes some photographs of it and brings it with him. Harold fails to gain entry into Henry’s last known haven and so hunkers down for the day in his surveillance van. The next night, the city still in chaos, Harold continues his investigation. Harold returns to the Armandasanti manor only to find that it has been overtaken by tough looking folks with armored vehicles and weapons. Two motorcyclists spot Harold as he blithely drives up to the gate. A chase through the suburbs of Maryland ensues, but Harold, being one of the only vehicles actually heading into D.C., is able to lose his pursuers by crossing the military checkpoint using his old press pass with his Mask of 1,000 Faces.
H.B. returns to the Undercity to report in. He finds the Chamber of Horrors buzzing with his broodmates. All are watching the events topside unfold on the news and are curious about what Harold had seen. Harold reports to Mary Pine alongside the other Operatives. He is informed of Cylus Pine’s injuries and of how the Undercity is now split in two by the psychic wall. However, there is a way under the wall, if Harold can make it . . . and he will need to. For his next mission is to see to the welfare of the Clan’s top assets in Alexandria: Desirée and Thaïs. He is also to be the eyes and ears of the Nosferatu inside the Wall.
Chapter 4: Dreams of Blood
BOOK II, Story 1, Chapter 4, part 1: Number Four
Asa continues his training with Diane at the condemned YMCA building in Fairfax. She shows him the power of their compassion to heal souls and the beginnings of the Road of Golconda. Diane teaches Asa about the secret history of the order of the Salubri and their place in the world, even in these End Times, to bring solace. Asa is taught that only few of their number walk the earth at any given time and that soon, once Asa has learned everything that Diane needs to teach him, she will freely give him her power and pass on into his mind as a mutli-soul being like she is currently through some sort of voluntary diablerie ritual.
Their training is cut short, however, by the arrival of the Tremere agent Number Four. The Warlock battles Diane. Before succumbing to her attacker, Diane saves Asa and tells him to run away and find “the Malkavian.”
BOOK II, Story 1, Chapter 4, part 2: Power of a Name
Alexandria is under martial law, though rioting is less there than in D.C. Desirée wakes from her nightmare after having sampled Zachary’s blood. Thaïs, Desirée, Zachary and Benjamin continue their investigations into the forces conspiring to end the world. The coterie learns more of the so-called “Lady-in-the-Lake:” she is Hirut. Joan warns them not to use her name directly, for there is power in it when used intentionally. Boxcar, the entity in Thaïs’ head, tells them more of the ancient and her quest to find her demon lover and possibly end the world through convoluted means. The team investigates further to find that all roads seem to point toward Theodore Roosevelt Island in the middle of the Potomac River as a likely resting place for the old vampire. Zachary dreams of a young man running and bleeding in his first glimpse of Asa. Thaïs learns more of Mesopotamian belief systems. Desirée uses her sight-beyond-sight and artistic abilities to paint a portrait of Asa. Zachary asks for help from the voice in his head and the team tracks down Asa. They find the fledgling Salubri running for his unlife from Number Four. The team coaxes Asa to get in the car and they drive away.
Read the Canticles of the Prophet Zachariah for “Power of a Name” here. Des
Gwenevieve is met at BWI by her cousin, Carlo Giovanni. The Ambassador is quick to steer Gwen out of the airport and away from the Sabbat envoys he had to pay off. Gwenevieve sits with Carlo in the Giovanni armored convoy as they cross the border into the Camarilla’s Potomac Empire. The two speak of the political situation in D.C. and of the foppish Prince Gwen is to be Presented to. At the Smithsonian Castle in D.C., Carlo leads Gwen past the guards and Tremere watchdog Kairns, and into the presence of the Court: His Majesty Prince George of the Toreador at the helm. After sufficiently dealing with the details of the nature of her stay (and after a great deal of flirting on Carlo’s part), the Prince grants Gwen residency with caveats.
Carlo takes Gwen to the Giovanni Embassy after Elysium. The Embassy is the overgrown and largely forgotten (yet once great) Congressional Cemetery. Gwen learns of the method of entry (at the cost of a soul) to a small corner of the Underworld that the Clan controls beneath the Cemetery. Gwen meets her “superior,” Dr. Genet. But Gwen considers her mission to be far greater than anything her supposed minder is up to. Nonetheless, Dr. Carlotta Genet tells Gwen of the anomaly that she sensed beyond the Sudario. Somewhere to the south . . .
Chapter 5: Death’s New Life
BOOK II, Story 1, Chapter 5, part 1: Settling In Those Old Bones
BOOK II, Story 1, Chapter 5, part 2: The Giovanni Expedition
Gwen summons forth one of the Family’s “pets,” the wraith J. Edgar Hoover, from his grave in Congressional Cemetery. Gwen sets off a bit half-cocked on foot with her brother Giuseppi in tow. However, she realizes quickly how very far she would need to travel and how many accommodations she might well require on such a sojourn. Back in the Embassy, Gwen uses her intel and expertise to triangulate the location of the anomaly Dr. Genet detected in the Sudario. She found it to be roughly north of Manassas. Gwen’s investigations toward the south take a turn when the Sabbat decide to attack the Camarilla on the very night she was to head out. Waylaid by a glowing psychic wall of force, Gwenevieve investigates and finds it to be a rather daunting ward against Kindred like herself. The Wall stretches as far as the eye can see and so Gwen sets out her wraith Patrick to investigate. She then heads back toward the Cemetery to regroup . . . the city streets filled with protesters, police and frightened civilians amid the growing chaos.
Carlo returns to the Embassy, having survived the Sabbat attack by leaving the Smithsonian Zoo Elysium at the appropriate time. He works with Gwenevieve to get her the materials she would need in her mission (cars, books, men, weapons, et cetera), but resources are stretched with the war zone around them. However, such a cover, with all eyes distracted, might well make the perfect time for such a venture. Gwen leaves the Embassy with a convoy of armored diplomatic SUVs, bearing equipment, ghouls, three spiriti and her own talent. The group heads south and the “long way” to get to her target: it can’t be helped given the Tremere wall. They bed down for the day in the deeply haunted town of Fredericksburg, only to be interrupted mid-day by a Lupine attack from which Gwen barely survives. The Giovanni stay in a motel in Manassas for the rest of the day. The next night, Gwen finally discovers the anomaly at a cornfield outside of Manassas. The massive temple is imperceptible by sight in the material plane, but is wholly visible to Gwen’s deathsight. She sets about several nights of study to come to understand the rune-covered structure.
She is shocked to meet a circling creature who appears to be a shapeshifting Gangrel. The Kindred introduces herself as Tala. The two share what they know of the Temple and what twists of fate and special knowledge had lead each there.
Read Gwenevieve’s Cronache della Sindone for “The Giovanni Expedition” here.
Chapter 6: The Temple
BOOK II, Story 1, Chapter 6, part 1: What Dreams May Come
Zachary, Benjamin, Desirée, Thaïs and Normandin drive Asa safely away from the Tremere Agent Number 4 . . . or at the very least, he does not pursue their vehicle. The Kindred and their retainers cramped in the Bently have discussions about where to go and about the dreams and visions that brought them together. They decide to trek to Thaïs' ranch out on the far reaches of the Domain on the side of the Wall. They hole up at H&H Ranch for a night, awaiting the worst. Desirée uses her satellite phone to get through to her forces at her Del Ray Tower to bring her more martial ghouls to the ranch. After a time, the ghouls arrive and begin to guard the perimeter. The less-martial ghouls Elijah and Benjamin are relegated to Thaïs' steel basement bunker as the Kindred prepare for battle. All of the while, the entity in Thaïs' mind, Boxcar, continues to coax her to give him complete use of her arms in exchange for the ritual to bring people through the Wall. He would need a soul to enact the ritual — even the soul of a large animal.
Vittorio Ghiribaldi, the Tremere Seneschal of Alexandria, has H&H Ranch surrounded and drives up with several others. He goes straight to the door of Thaïs and rings the bell. He politely informs Thaïs that she is suspected of harboring a fugitive on the Red List and that she is to release him immediately. Thaïs tells Vittorio (through the closed door) that he is not welcome in her Domain. He politely leaves.
Asa asks Thaïs’ ghoul Normandin to look into some of his personal effects at the abandoned YMCA in Fairfax. After checking with his domitor to make sure this was something he was to do, he tells Asa that he will send a ranch hand to check it out during the daytime. The Kindred bed down for the day in the bunker below the ranch and all four have a dream.
Zachary dreams again of the Temple, but this time is consumed by it in horrendous pain. He awakens covered in his own blood. Desirée dreams of a beautiful sculptress who speaks to her of her revenge that she would be getting. She awakens refreshed. Thaïs dreams again of the city covered in salt, and as she digs into it, she seems to be drawn under by it . . . but something is released inside of her for the first time that she doesn’t yet understand. Asa dreams of Dianne surrounded by lab-coated torturers. Asa’s sire and mentor Diane is in some sort of laboratory being dissected by a team of dispassionate and gas-masked researchers. Asa tries to slice at the hands of the men, but his efforts fail and he awakens frustrated. All discuss their dreams and the fact that dreaming is considered very odd among the Kindred.
Eric Normandin lets it be known that Asa’s abandoned YMCA building had been overtaken by government officials after a “gas main break” over the previous day. Thus, the ranch hand did not attempt to enter.
The short-lived “coterie” of dreamers say their goodbyes and Thaïs enacts the ritual under Boxcar’s tutilage. She willingly gives the entity full access to her arms. Boxcar ruthlessly sacrifices the horse Petra (using Thaïs’ arms) and leaves a bloody mess on the ground. Zachary and Asa do as they are bid and give of their blood (as does Benjamin, not understanding that he wasn’t meant to, as he could just pass through the Wall, being a ghoul). Zachary licks Benjamin’s wound, stopping the bleeding. Asa, Benjamin and Zachary pass through the hole ripped in the Wall by Thaïs’ bloody knife passing through it. They stepped through and then . . . disappear.
They weren’t on the other side of the wall . . . they were nowhere to be seen. Desirée and Thaïs know that they will have to deal with Vittorio now. Zachary, Benjamin and Asa step through the Wall just as Malkav laughs in Zachary’s mind. Malkav says that he would usually not trust such a creature as was crawling around in Thaïs’ mind, but that he was genuinely curious about what was to happen and so chooses not to interfere.
Asa, Zachary and Benjamin appear in a blackened room . . . no light whatsoever so that not even vampire sight seems to help them (though they are able to survey using their other senses). Asa manages to find a groove and his hand is cut on it deeply. He bleeds on the stone and doors open. The three pour out of the room find themselves being stared at by a stunned Rose and Gwenevieve.
Read the Canticles of the Prophet Zachariah for “What Dreams May Come” here.
BOOK II, Story 1, Chapter 6, part 2: Survey
Zachary, Asa and Benjamin stand up to greet the two Kindred staring at them. They find themselves in a small stone entryway, though the door beyond is blocked. The entryway lets out into a cornfield yet the Temple is otherwise imperceptible to the naked eye from the outside. The five size each other up and recognize the unique situation they are in. None get so far as to trust one another, but no one attacks one another immediately. The assembled researchers continue their investigations. Rose, going by the name Tala, hunts for the hungry travelers.
Zachary uses a compact to contact Joan. They create a joint mind hub of a medieval war tent. He catches her in an obfuscation when she feigns not knowing the name Genevieve Rossellini, but otherwise she tells him that she is near Clifton inside the Wall, relocating Samal and OTCAL. Zachary relays that he has reached the Temple at last. Joan tells him that Cedric and the others are still operating outside the Wall, though in hiding.
Read the Canticles of the Prophet Zachariah for “Survey” here.
Read Gwenevieve’s Cronache della Sindone for “Survey” here.
Chapter 7: The Calling
BOOK II, Story 1, Chapter 7, part 1: Wrong Number
Desirée and Thaïs are at H&H Ranch, having just completed the blood sacrifice and ritual which sent Zachary, Asa and Benjamin away. If they appeared on the other side of the wall, they were no longer visible. Further, Boxcar was nowhere to be heard in Thaïs’ mind. Des and Ty are thus unable to contact the group they had just sent away.
Des and Ty know that they will have to deal with Vittorio sooner or later. They take the martial ghouls and return to Del Ray Tower, leaving Normandin and Elijah at H&H.
The convoy drives through the streets of Alexandria. Thaïs and Desirée witness sporadic clashes with police and the aftermath of rioting. Desirée’s gallery has some glass window damage, but it doesn’t appear that the place is too badly hit from the mid-day looting. The duo arrive at Club Euphonia and are ushered into the loading dock. The main entrance had been boarded up by the ghouls in the previous day. Desirée has the main door reopened and uses her Disciplines to summon Vittorio, the Tremere Seneschal of Alexandria. Vittorio shows remarkable restraint, yet chides Desirée for her calling. He uses some sort of mind effect that Desirée catches and makes a polite exit.
The pair decide to settle scores with the chaos of the city under siege. The Kindred feed and prepare for the next night’s excitements.
BOOK II, Story 1, Chapter 7, part 2: It Stirs Beneath
Kershaw rests for the day snuggled in the safety of the deep warrens, but not before spending some time with friends. The following night, he begins his long sojourn into the Depths alongside his traveling companion and fellow Nosferatu agent, Bette. They bond over the night as they plant communication-boosting devices along the deepest pathways of the Undercity, finally resting for the day in the caverns below. They feel a stirring, but manage to avoid whatever might have been lurking in the depths with them. After a night of tunneling below the Tremere Bubble, the pair arrive in Alexandria. Bette vanishes into the night to begin her own mission for the Commune. H.B. makes contact with the Nosferatu forces on the “inside,” and begins his search for the assets Thaïs and Desirée and his wider mission to assess the situation to report back to the Undercity.
BOOK II, Story 1, Chapter 7, part 3: Ordering Delivery
Desirée and Thaïs hatch their plot to lure Barnaby Wilcox to a discrete location to torture and murder him as payment for his many slights against them. The pair bring along Desirée’s martial ghouls and set up their ambush at a house in Fairfax. The vacant suburban house is the place the three thinbloods had been living who Desirée had taken in to live in her Del Ray Tower Apartments. Desirée calls upon her newfound-Discipline power to Summon the Ventrue ancilla. Barnaby arrives with two of his ghouls. A scuffle ensues. Barnaby tries to use Dominate, but he was not prepared for the two to gang up on him. Ultimately he is bested and staked. Desirée taunts Barnaby’s torpid body and then drinks of his heart’s blood, marking the Toreador out as a diablerist.
Story Two: The Lady Awakes
Chapter 1: Strike
BOOK II, Story 2, Chapter 1, part 1: State Property
The Kindred investigators at the Temple have long discussions through the night as they prod, etch and document. They discuss their pasts, giving little hints of truth mixed with misdirection to one another. They discuss the mystical, physical and psychological effects of ghouldom and the nature of darkness. Learning that the Temple is powered by vitae, the group seeks to learn exactly how it might be manipulated. Gwenevieve covers the Temple antechamber in blood. Tala uses her newly-emerging powers of the Spirit world to imbue a knife with other-worldly matter and Gwenevieve slices Zachary’s arm: spraying his vitae across the sealed inner-entryway. The spray of blood coalesces into something legible in Enochian. Only Zachary is able to read it, but only barely. “State Property Fourth Circle - Called-Gomorrah” is all that Zachary is able to make out before the blood is reabsorbed into the blackened stone.
Zachary, Benjamin and Asa go to the farmhouse to stay for the day with the Giovanni ghouls. Before the Kindred die for the day, Gwen orders Tala to bring her the bound human woman from the farmhouse. Though they nearly pass in the night, Zachary only notices out of the corner of his eye Tala bringing a slumped body over her shoulders to the Temple. Tala and Gwen share a meal in the temple, thoughtlessly disposing of the body afterwards.
All have a dreamless night. To most, that is normal. But to Zachary, it is an unexpected respite. While the Kindred “slept,” Benjamin had procured a blood bag from the Giovanni in exchange for unknown future favors.
The coterie assemble at the Temple to relaunch their investigations. Zachary uses his power of Spirit Touch to see a man with long, dark hair and a beautiful countenance, yet his extremities are grey like the other mysterious folk the prophet had seen. The grey seems to grow along the side of the man’s neck as he emerges from the inner door of the Temple and closes the door in the antechamber. The man is wearing unfamiliar clothes that seem to be both of the future and distant past. The man pulls a rock globe out of a socket in the seam of the inner antechamber door, seeming to lock the mechanism with a hissing and glowing of blood sigils on the stone walls. “Don’t know if it’s quite time, but here we go again,” the greying man says with a mixture of resignation and weariness.
Once Zachary returns to his senses, the Kindred investigators discuss dreams, portents, the possible ending of the world and more. They discuss alliances like OTCAL and enemies like the Cult of Hirut. They even discuss more esoteric questions about the nature of existence. But the topic of conversation at last comes to “George” and the Tremere. The time has come to get ahead of the problem and capture George and possibly Agent 4.
Read the Canticles of the Prophet Zachariah for “State Property” here.
Read Gwenevieve’s Cronache della Sindone for “State Property” here.
BOOK II, Story 2, Chapter 1, part 2: Detour
The newfound coterie (with attendants) ride in two of the Giovanni expeditionary force’s black armored SUVs, hugging the Tremere Bubble as best as possible along the southwest. The Kindred discuss Disciplines and other advantages they bring to bear, and thus discuss tactics in a possible upcoming ambush. Tala admits that she was once a high-ranking officer of the Camarilla’s S’eth Adar, though had left recently after she saw the dissolution of her coterie and destruction of the Camarilla in Georgetown. The Kindred also discuss attributes of the Temple and its ability to obfuscate from humans.
Tala uses her senses to find roaming lupines not far from the traveling caravan. The troupe is troubled to learn that lupines seem to possess an ability to move with lightning speed from one area of the forest to another — miles from each place. The Kindred are unsure of how the lupines are capable of this, but think it wise to move quickly. The group drives on toward far metro Maryland and avoids the creatures. As the troupe moves to set up their ambush against George, Zachary goes into the Cobweb to contact Cedric.
Cedric is relieved to hear from his younger clanmate. He tells Zachary that he had been unable to contact him for some time and was worried. He agreed that George should be dealt with and that he was suspicious of him from the start. But, Cedric is more worried about another matter that requires his immediate attention. Damien had already sent a message to Cedric and the other Malkavians to taunt them with the knowledge that he was to awaken the Lady of the Lake. Cedric had become worried about missing area Malkavians, even amidst the chaos of the Sabbat invasion.
Cedric was going in closer to at least see what was going on and to see if he could do anything. Zachary comes out of the Cobweb and orders the cars to stop. The troupe decides to follow the warnings of the Malkavians and put a stop to Damien’s plans. When Zachary tells Tala/Rose about the thinbloods being used as food for a rising methuselah, she becomes enraged, yet determined. Jeremiah is implicated and thus Rose knows exactly from where these thinbloods come.
The Kindred drive to the military checkpoints into D.C. An officer approaches the SUVs to check paperwork under martial law, but Zachary uses Inner Image to pass the caravan through security. The ruse doesn’t work on observing Sabbat packs. The team quickly finds themselves pursued by two packs of Sabbat: one shape-shifted group of Gangrel antitribu above and another group in an armored vehicle behind them. Gwenevieve compels J. Edgar to deal with the Sabbat in the car tailing them through the streets of D.C. The vehicle behind swerves and crashes. The creatures above back away as soon as the caravan reaches the banks of the Potomac. They seem to either fear it or have orders not to pursue. The sickening whiff of brimstone wafts from Roosevelt Island at the edge of the Bubble across the water. The Kindred look out at the water and Tala/Rose leaps into water, transformed.
Read the Canticles of the Prophet Zachariah for “Detour” here.
Read Gwenevieve’s Cronache della Sindone for “Detour” here.
Chapter 2: The Symphony of Hirut
BOOK II, Story 2, Chapter 2, part 1: She Wakes Hungry
Benjamin is persuaded to travel with the other ghouls across the bridge and to flank through the Bubble, as only ghouls can. The Kindred opt for an attack by water. Gwenevieve holds onto a transformed Tala to swim her across the river. Zachary and Asa join them, jumping into the icy waters of the Potomac and swimming toward Roosevelt Island. The Kindred must rely on their normal vampiric senses without the usage of Auspex: for the noxious odor of brimstone overwhelms all with such power and that scent grows stronger the closer the troupe comes to land.
When the coterie reaches the banks of the island, they hear the sound of classical music wafting through the air and Tala/Rose springs into action. Rose calls upon her own Beast to take control. It takes her but a moment to get to the center of the wooded island where Hirut is slaking her thirst on a dazed group of thin-blooded vampires arranged in sacrificial robes. The assembled cult reacts in horror and outrage as a blur of a dog bites down upon the distracted ancient.
There is a clearing in the center of the otherwise densely-wooded island. In that clearing, there is a rarely-visited monument and park area with a series of concentric pathways and carved stone. Tonight, there is a gaping crater in the center of the monument park. For, Hirut is awake. Long had she called to her those she needed. And many heeded her call tonight. On this island, as Rose bites down upon Hirut, there are no less than 12 Kindred, a group of dazed thinbloods and a screaming head in a box.
Among the assembled cultists is one Rose dreaded — yet yearned — to see: Jinx. But Rose’s beast is now in charge and every last ounce of her mental reserves are being used up in the ensuing battle.
Jinx guards the box. The gilded box has its hinged doors swung open with a burned, shriveled and blackened head inside: its eyes sealed sockets and its mouth agape, emitting a deafening drone as soon as Rose attacks Hirut. Gwenevieve sees this head and knows that she must possess it as soon as she comes to the side of the island where Jinx is stationed.
Hirut feasts upon Allie Weathers: a thinblood Rose and Jinx had saved from herself — and the Camarilla — years ago. Hirut dumps Allie (not yet destroyed) alongside the husk of a nameless sacrifice she had already exsanguinated the moment she is attacked by Rose. The three other thinblooded sacrifices bob back and forth, transfixed and compliant.
Hirut hisses out in a language unknown to the Beast-as-Rose and uses her own Power of the Blood to extricate herself. Hirut uses a detached, shriveled and burned hand that she holds to create some sort of tear in the Tremere Wall. She flees as a blur into Alexandria amidst gunfire . . . presumably from the ghouls.
Among the cultists, there is Montbatton of the Malkavian antitribu and the Brujah Fat Eddie of the S’eth Adar of Georgetown and Zachary’s “brother/broodmate,” Damien. Montbatton goes into Obfuscation along with a few of the other cultists. Fat Eddie fires his weapon and hits a charging Asa. Asa takes a bullet in the gut, though in the process, shields the otherwise defenseless thinbloods from harm.
Damien Luther Adams is wearing a tuxedo with tails and is directing a chamber ensemble. One of his “players” is a mesmerized Jordan Bingham: Ventrue Primogen of Alexandria and very nearly Prince of Georgetown. Damien spots Zachary as he moves in to attack. “Brother,” Damien smiles, exercising his Disciplines. Zachary is sent into a mind prison, envisioning himself in an insane asylum from the 1950s.
Gwen wrests the box from Jinx, though as she does so, flies begin to swarm out of her mouth and nostrils.
Rose, or more accurately, Rose’s Beast, is now drunk on the power of Methuselah vitae. To mortal and even most vampiric eyes, Rose now simply appears behind victims, stretches out her bloody hand and squeezes the hearts of her victims before they burst into aerosolized torrents of blood mist. The Rose creature then disappears and reconstitutes herself behind her next victim who, in turn, becomes naught but crimson fog. All who do not keep their mouths firmly closed become high on the blood in the air.
Zachary is able to break out of his mind prison and wrests Jordan from Damien before Damien Obfuscates into the night.
Jinx is overpowered by Rose and is nearly killed by her former lover. Jinx sees Rose’s eyes and recognizes her . . . though in a different form than she knew her.
“Pretty Flower?” Jinx asks of the blood-soaked Beast standing over her.
Read the Canticles of the Prophet Zachariah for “She Wakes Hungry” here.
Read Gwenevieve’s Cronache della Sindone for “She Wakes Hungry” here.
BOOK II, Story 2, Chapter 2, part 2: The Spirit of the Potomac
Blood-soaked Rose stands over Jinx and comes to her senses, using the last of her willpower to overcome the Beast. Sill enraged, Gwenevieve sucker-punches Jinx and the box with the screaming head falls closed on the ground. Drained and at a loss for the devastation in her wake, Rose does not stop Jinx from drawing her head to hers and mind-melding with her, as the Malkavian prophetess had done several times in the past. Jinx sees something in Rose’s mind that fills her with hatred and she hisses at her former lover. She grabs the box and Rose does not move to stop her. By the time Gwen tries to do something about the fleeing Malkavian, she is already using Obfuscate beyond the abilities of either to track her.
Meanwhile, the ghouls (or, most of them) have made it onto the island from the other side. Giuseppi and Elizabeta are announced as having been taken by a great blur. Rose awakes from her stupor, still humming with power and less encumbered with Humanity than ever before. She fetches Benjamin from the footpath to bring him to the group, but her power is beyond her control and nearly kills Ben in the process. Hidden from Gwen’s view, Asa is able to use his abilities. Zachary sees the Salubri working his healing Disciplines to save Ben. Zachary feeds Benjamin his ghoul’s second draught of blood, and Benjamin declares his love for his domitor.
Frustrated at the loss of the box and of Jinx, Gwen lashes out at Tala. Yet Tala/Rose is far to emotionally drained by the event to muster any sort of reaction.
A search revealed a simpering, gibbering Cedric who had lost his ability to communicate.
The Giovanni at the Embassy commandeered the Spirit of the Potomac yacht from the boatyards nearby. They steered it to Roosevelt Island and the survivors piled onboard.
The Kindred, their ghouls and their evacuees/prisoners clamered up the causeway and made their way into the Giovanni Embassy to stay for the day. Ambassador Carlo was none to pleased to see a high-profile Camarilla refugee (Jordan Bingham) among the number to be harbored at the Embassy during such a tumultuous time. He politely demanded an explanation from Gwen forthcoming as soon as the sun set.
Read the Canticles of the Prophet Zachariah for “The Spirit of the Potomac” here.
Read Gwenevieve’s Cronache della Sindone for “The Spirit of the Potomac” here.
Chapter 3: Gateways
BOOK II, Story 2, Chapter 3, part 1: The Invitation
The day passes over the Congressional Cemetery where the five Temple investigators hibernate. But on this day, they are visited by dreams and nightmares.
Zachary dreams of the Temple: but this time in more detail than before. He awakes as a spiritual entity inside of the antechamber. He fashions himself a body out of his will and immediately sees that Benjamin is splayed and displaced inside the seam of the inner door, screaming. Zachary moves to save his friend, pulling him out and freeing him in what might have killed him, were this “real.” Zachary explores the inner chambers of the Temple, and arrives at some sort of control room. He is pulled into the blood mechanism which powers the Temple, and sees that it is called The Irad. Zachary is extruded into blood and moves along the vessels intricately moving through the Temple/ship until he dissipates altogether.
Gwenevieve dreams of the Underworld. She sees a great storm of souls rip apart the Underworld, destroying the Clan’s batteries, in fact: ERUPTING from them. In the end, she sees herself in the center of the Maelstrom itself as the Maelstrom.
Asa dreams of light. He becomes the light itself and can fly in the air at any speed his consciousness chooses. He seeks Diane and finds a wooded area at a military installation somewhere outside of the city in the far suburbs on the other side of D.C. But Asa is drawn to the other side of the world, to a ruined castle on the cliffside of an island somewhere. There is only ocean behind him. Past the edge of that cliff, deep in the sea, there is a bubbling darkness growing as from a tiny marble of matter. The matter explodes exponentially, gobbling up more and more until all is darkness.
Rose dreams of her grove on the Shenandoah. She sees the peace of it and understands the spiritual forces which hold it together: she melds them as easily as humans breathe (in this dream). But her senses turn upward: miles and miles in the sky. A satellite circles the earth. A dish turns and a beam of light streams onto Earth, destroying all in its path. Rose . . . the grove . . . all incinerated in a fraction of a second.
Rose, Gwen and Asa all wake with blood sigils in the bedding beneath them, just as the Malkavian Cedric had warned might happen to those who walk in the wake of the Prophet.
Gwen and Rose fetch Zachary. Zachary interprets the sigils: Asa has a sigil meaning “Of Light,” Rose has a blood sigil loosely bearing the meaning “animating force” or “Spirit,” and Gwen’s sigil has a meaning of “Entropy” or “Death.” Other smaller symbols have other meanings, but could be interpreted to mean a passage through of energy or a “gateway.”
The Kindred and Benjamin discuss their dreams. Benjamin blurts out a bit more than he should, just wanting to be involved. Zachary tries to steer the discussion away from a disturbing conclusion he has made about his visions.
At a break in the conversation, one of Gwen’s junior family members takes her aside to inform her that Carlo has ordered the thinbloods staked, as they were making too much fuss this early evening (supposedly). Allie and the other thinbloods have been moved to the basement.
Gwenevieve tells Asa, Rose and Zachary to wait in the parlor of the cemetery caretaker home. She walks to the shroud between worlds at the Giovanni gate, yet Carlo is already there coming to greet her and pulls her in with him beyond the Sudario.
Inside the courtyard of the forbidding Giovanni Castle in the Underworld, the Spiriti aid Gwen and Carlo do everything, from to sit, to rise . . . to walk. The cousins discuss business in a place far from the greedy ears of the Tremere or Nosferatu. Carlo informs Gwen of the political strife that she has put him through. The city is in complete turmoil, but it appears the Sabbat have the upper hand at the moment. Thus the situation is not helped by harboring high-value Camarilla “guests” for nothing. They decide that Jordan Bingham, though a hot item, is too good of a political chip to pass away. Carlo is uninterested with the thinbloods or the Malkavian scum and just wants them gone. He lets it be known in no uncertain terms that these “guests” are to leave the cemetery that night. Discreetly. Gwen tells him that this is worth it and to not involve more family just yet, lest they arise further suspicion. Carlo doesn’t know how long that should be, but agrees for the moment.
Zachary contacts Joan through the cobweb. He finds her mind in an abandoned mill near Clifton, having physically left the new OTCAL facility for fear that Jinx might use Joan’s location to alert Hirut to Samal. Joan fears what Jinx has become and that there is no turning back for her now.
Just as Carlo and Gwenevieve pass the Sudario into the skinlands, motorcycles and armored vehicles pull up to the wrought iron gate of the cemetery. Carlo goes to greet his new apparent “landlords:” the Sabbat. Gwenevieve nips away to warn her companions to stay put and stay quiet.
Bishop Giordano and his retinue (including a Masquerade-flaunting Tzimisce priest of some sort) speak to Carlo at his doorstep. Gwen joins the group at the threshold of the cemetery just as Carlo is kissing the bishopric ring of His Excellency, Bishop Cosimo Giordano.
The Bishop warns the Giovanni that they had word that the Giovanni might be harboring Camarilla heretics in their embassy. Carlo ensures the Bishop that he was not. After eyeing one another, the Bishop seems satisfied for the moment. Or lets the matter go for other inexplicable reasons.
The Bishop speaks in Italian to Gwenevieve and Carlo Giovanni. He “invites”/orders them to come to the Sabbat’s Grand Ball on the weekend to celebrate the Sword of Caine’s glorious victory over the Camarilla of Georgetown. Carlo tells the Bishop to give his regards to the Archbishop and that he will bring his household to the Ball as envoys to the new rulers of Georgetown.
Carlo tells Gwen to get rid of the guests TONIGHT, but to leave Jordan. He will hold him, likely staked and likely beyond the Sudario, until he decides to use him. Gwen returns to the others and all discuss their next steps. The coterie has a test of their resolve when they must decide what is to be done with Jordan. Zachary and Benjamin go upstairs to check on Jordan and Cedric before the coterie is to move on.
Read the Canticles of the Prophet Zachariah for “The Invitation” here.
Read Gwenevieve’s Cronache della Sindone for “The Invitation” here.
BOOK II, Story 2, Chapter 3, part 2: Moving Day
Zachary speaks with Joan in the Cobweb, unsure of what to do with an addled and near-comatose pair of Kindred. In Benjamin’s arms on the third floor of the Giovanni funeral parlor that serves as their embassy, Zachary talks with Joan through the Cobweb and determines that an ancient order of Salubri could heal Jordan and Cedric, otherwise only time or a powerful Malkavian with these mind powers that are starting to reappear in the world could heal them. Alternatively, Zachary could meet up with other Malkavians to try.
Zachary uses Spirit’s Touch on Jordan’s hair piece to determine much of the Ventrue Primogen’s recent past. Zachary sees though the hairpiece Jordan’s attempts at a coup that were nearly successful. The Ventrue challenged Prince George and was winning, but then there was an explosion across town and the Sabbat attacked. Jordan and his Ventrue and Gangrel comrades were overwhelmed at the Smithsonian National Zoo Elysium by the invading Sabbat army. Jordan was doing battle, but was staked from behind by an Obfuscating Montbatton. Montbatton convinced some other Sabbat to let him take Jordan for some sort of “special project” instead of leaving him with the other captives for future use. In deference, the other Sabbat allowed him. They could not have known that Montbatton then took Jordan to Damien and the Cult of Hirut (an altogether different group with conflicting goals to the Sabbat).
The coterie has a brief meeting to determine the order of the night.
Following this, Rose descends the stairs to the basement to unstake the thinbloods. She then uses Presence in quick succession on the rising thinbloods to convince them to stay torpid for a period of time, yet relieves them of the pain of staking. Rose then scares the living shit out of a Giovanni ghoul for his part in the thinbloods’ torment.
Asa finds the power of his third eye, but does his best to hide it using a rag. Still, he takes time to visualize new colors and magnetic fields that are new to his sight.
Zachary, Rose, Gwen and Asa have a blood picnic inside the funeral home main parlor with the blood bags gifted to them from the embassy. Later, Gwen creates a homunculus out of a hand she cleaves from a cadaver. She then conducts a grisly necromantic battle experiment as Rose/Tala watches.
Malkav appears again to Zachary (and Benjamin) using Cedric as a fleshpuppet. Malkav seems most excited to see Zachary showing the so-called Sword of Caine the truth at an upcoming revel.
Asa goes to his guest room in the embassy/funeral home to meditate and use the power of the light. He finds that Diane is still alive and knows the general direction she is in.
Gwen uses her spriti spies to learn all that transpired with the other Kindred (including that Asa is a Salubri, that some entity is speaking to Zachary through Cedric and can control the radio, and that Rose can be very forceful when protecting people she cares for). Gwen learns from Clyde that J. Edgar is resting and gaining power from consuming wayward and lost souls in the Underworld. J. Edgar must do this because he expended too much power in the battle with the Sabbat tail to remain in corporeal form for a few nights.
The team beds down for the day in body bags to be moved through the day by the ghouls to Gwen’s apartment in Adams Morgan. Paolo, Benjamin and the ghouls take shifts driving through the day, getting the Kindred and equipment to the Adams Morgan safehouse without arousing too much Sabbat attention, them being a mostly night-based organization with few ghouls and mortal catspaws as a weakness in their ideology Gwen exploits.
During the day, Zachary has a dream of the upcoming Gran Ballo of the Sabbat. In the evening, all awake in Gwen’s townhouse. Their plan appears to have worked. Cedric is still addled, but Benjamin sets him out of the body bag and onto the bed of their guest room. Zachary takes a shower. The group convenes in the living room where dreams and the upcoming Sabbat Ball is discussed. Tala confides that she is losing in her struggle with the Beast and she fears wightdom.
Read Gwenevieve’s Cronache della Sindone for “Moving Day” here.
Read the Canticles of the Prophet Zachariah for “Moving Day” here.
Chapter 4: The Long Night
BOOK II, Story 2, Chapter 4, part 1: Finding the Lost
Zachary, Tala, Asa and Benjamin set out to conduct a Cobweb conference between Zachary and the other Camarilla Malkavians hiding in the city. They don’t want to alert Damien or other antagonistic Malkavians to their location, so they choose to find a mirror to conduct the ritual somewhere away from Gwen’s Adams Morgan townhouse. Meanwhile in the townhouse, Gwen conducts a ritual of her own: using the bloody Knowing Stone to find out what became of her missing ghouls. Through the ritual, Gwen finds her brother/revenant ghoul Giuseppe. Giuseppe had been embraced and is being forcibly blood-bound by the ancient Hirut in her temporary haven in a forgotten storage shack in Burke Lake Park.
Asa uses his charms and “trusting face” to get a furniture store owner to let the coterie stay in the store and lock up as the owner goes upstairs to get some sleep. The Kindred then have Zachary lay on a four-post bed facing an antique six-foot mirror and reach out in the Cobweb. He finds Theodore who helps him to find Comet. Theodore is trying to escape the Empire, heading to Chicago. Comet is with the other surviving Anarchs hiding out in the human protesters’ “tent city.” Together, the Malkavians are able to mitigate some of the damage Damien had done to Cedric’s mind, with Cedric expected to recover after a night or so. Zachary awakes from the Cobweb in the furniture store with the other Kindred. They leave a check from Gwen at the till on their way out.
The coterie reassembles at Gwen’s Adams Morgan townhouse to bed down for the day. They nearly die mid-sentence as Gwen attempts to glean more information about the angry, grizzly death of the Malkavian S’eth Adar enforcer, Prentiss.
During the day, Zachary has nightmares of two heads fleshcrafted onto a pole, singing a sad song to him.
The next night — Long Night (Winter Solstice) — Gwenevieve and Rose have an awkward feeding moment. Rose, having offered herself to Gwen, is left pained and feeling discarded.
Cedric wakes from his Dementation-stupor and tells the coterie of the Blood Hunt on Desirée and Thaïs.
Gwen takes a car to the Giovanni Embassy. Carlo had sent for her on this night, knowing that it is a Sabbat High Holiday (The Binding) , and so they were less likely to be watched so closely.
Gwen meets Carlo at the Embassy and they quickly retire to the Giovanni Battlements beyond the Sudario. In their private garden, Carlo warns Gwen about the spies of the Lasombra and the two have a discussion about the Family’s aims and local resources. Carlo spends the next Underworld day teaching Gwen the Family’s closely-guarded ritual: The Rending.
Read Gwenevieve’s Cronache della Sindone for “Finding the Lost” here.
Read the Canticles of the Prophet Zachariah for “Finding the Lost” here.
BOOK II, Story 2, Chapter 4, part 2: The Gifts
Gwenevieve learns the rough and dirty way the Giovanni have been poking holes in the Sudario in their latest rounds of experiments. Gwen spends a full night and a full day practicing the craft under her cousin Carlo’s tutelage. The Giovanni family battlement beyond the Sudario parallel to the Congressional Cemetery is the perfect place to talk and to hone skills: for the shades of the Lasombra can find no purchase here, nor can the prying eyes of the Malkavians and other perceptive Cainites pierce the Shroud. Further, the Black Hole Sun of the Underworld does not in any way harm the Kindred — if anything, the baleful rays feel comforting on Gwenevieve’s skin. The tall walls, built of shade-matter, hold back the rambling Sluah of the Land of the Dead.
Meanwhile on the prime material plane, Zachary hones his gifts with the ancilla Malkavian, Cedric. Rose makes some gifts of her own to give to her newfound coterie mates. She calls upon the spirits to imbue the items with their power. She takes the time to write heartfelt notes, though some might consider them painfully personal.
Gwenevieve returns from her foray in the Underworld and meets with the rest of the coterie staying in her townhouse in Adams Morgan.
Rose then gifts her items and letters to her coterie mates gathered in the townhouse. Gwen rebuffs Rose’s attempts at romantic entanglement with her and then manages to extricate herself from the conversation. Rose’s gift to Asa is far more straightforward. Rose’s gift to Zachary comes with it a letter. The letter details the pitfalls of relationships when vitae is involved and the power imbalances of intrinsic in all domitor-thrall relationships which will only end in pain. Rose suggests in the letter that the coterie ask the Sisterhood if the Sisters are capable of removing blood bonds. Benjamin explodes in rage at reading the letter. Yet Benjamin, knowing he could be torn limb-from-limb by anyone around him, storms out. Zachary cries bitter blood tears in Asa’s arms.
The coterie take some time to simmer down. They resolve their emotional bruises between one another to a manageable degree, and they die for the day. They are all thankfully bereft of dreams.
The next night in the Sabbat Bishopric of Washington, the coterie gather equipment, clothing and prepare for Il Gran Ballo. It is decided that Gwenevieve will go on her own as the only one actually invited (or expected, rather). The others will need to find their own way in.
Read the Canticles of the Prophet Zachariah for “The Gifts” here.
Story Three: The Crimson Star
Chapter 1: Il Gran Ballo
BOOK II, Story 3, Chapter 1, part 1: Passion of the Dark Father
It is the night of the Sabbat’s Il Gran Ballo. Zachary, Asa and Rose set out for the derelict RFK Stadium, leaving Benjamin behind at Congressional Cemetery. They also leave their Malkavian allies Cedric and Comet obfuscated with a getaway car on the edge of the stadium parking lot’s tent city. The three walk confidently in their assumed personas toward the line of Cainites queueing at the entrance. Rose introduces herself as Rachel, Asa as Freeman and Zachary as DJ.
Gwenevieve Rossellini is driven to the ball in a family car with her cousins, Ambassador Carlo Giovanni and Dr. Carlotta Genet. The streets of the neighborhood are quiet for Christmas Eve, what with martial law in full effect and the rioting going on in other parts of the city. It isn’t far from the Embassy to RFK Stadium where the invitation had ordered them to go. The ambassador and his retinue arrive in their armored sedan, parking near a hodge-podge of motorcycles, a police car, a hippie van, rows of giant black busses and luxury race cars. The delegation is welcomed into the stadium and brought to a box seat to watch a live production of The Passion of the Dark Father. Carlo orders his delegation to mingle and report back later. Gwen is sat near some of the bishops, archbishops, a Priscus and not too far from the bloated Cardinal himself. Though, Monçada is surrounded by a hooded entourage.
Gwen is captivated by the floor show. Vampiric Disciplines are openly used to heighten the experience. The Celerity-infused acrobatics, shadomancy dancing about as ocean and haunting music of the throat puppet fleshcrafted out of two Daughters of Cacophony makes for an impressive diversion, to say the least.
Meanwhile, the other three talk with other warriors for Caine and do their best to fit into their assumed personas. With some convincing, they pose as clueless recruits willingly bending their throats to the Will of the Dark Father. They are invited inside for Baptism . . . whatever that means.
More vampires are gathered in one place than Gwen sitting in the bleachers or any of the rest of the coterie walking amongst the groundlings has ever seen. Rose does her level best to make little notice of people she has known for years strewn up for slaughter on the goal posts of the decaying field. On pikes, S’eth Adar and Anarchs alike are trussed up for amusement and . . . refreshment. The unfortunates are staked, yet fed animals to keep them “fresh" for diablerie by whoever emerges tonight as the new Archbishop of Washington and whoever they choose in their new administration.
The coterie among the groundlings chat with various members of the Sword of Caine, some true believers, some rather inhuman, but most cordial enough. The conversation with the Lasombra Samantina takes a turn when Zachary accuses Montbatton of being a servitor of an ancient. Many, including Samantina, had noticed the missing Malkavians before, thus their suspicions are raised. This, however, is one of the most serious accusations one can make in the Sabbat (aside from infernalism) and it completely destroys “DJ’s” cover story of being a clueless fledgling. The Paladin Samantina orders the three to follow her to the interior of the stadium, seemingly for arrest or worse.
At this, Zachary falls into his vision and is joined by Asa. Asa helps Zachary atop a stadium wall, a perfect perch above the Sabbat fray. Asa’s sight through his third eye brings him into the vision with Zachary of the devastation of a looming Red Star. The few Malkavian antitribu in attendance point up at Asa and Zachary as “DJ Prophet” begins his revelations. All eyes are upon the pair, and those with the Sight see looming behind the Prophet a pinpoint of red light in the Astral sky . . . an unmistakable portent of doom.
Read the Canticles of the Prophet Zachariah for “Passion of the Dark Father” here.
BOOK II, Story 3, Chapter 1, part 2: A Separate Piece
DJ Prophet’s first live show, as it were, is as a bomb exploding among the Sabbat. After Zachary makes his pronouncements, the gathered throng of undead have a host of reactions. Some Cainites laugh, others rush to burn the heretic in the central pyre, others fall to their knees in worship, most are confused and waiting to see who will do what. Not all among the Sabbat can see the Red Star after all . . . only those with sufficient Auspex. Certainly all of the priests can see the star, and thus take the event very seriously indeed. There appears to be some scuffle among the leadership as one woman rushed to attack Zachary. Rose puts a quick stop to her. A bishop launches himself at Zachary in the confusion and attempts to diablerize the Malkavian, only to fall to the ground gibbering in madness. The Malkavians present continue staring and pointing at Zachary and Asa.
The Sabbat leadership move to calm the rabble. An insectoid Tzimisce steps over the addled bishop and bids the disruptive three follow. Asa, Zachary and Rose move past the staring crowd and into the darkened bowels of the old stadium.
Deep in the hollowed-out guts of the twisted metal colosseum, the chitin-shelled Tzimisce monstrosity had become a cherubic little girl “wearing” a dress made of delicate flesh. She introduces herself as Sascha Vykos, a Priscus of the Sabbat.
Sascha has a long conversation with the three, asking uncomfortable questions, and never contradicting when lied to. She tells them that she knows of the ancients of which they speak and has a vested interest in seeing them dead as well. She offers secret material aid from factions of the Sabbat, though insists that they each give her an appendage and sneak out the back way, unless they wish to incur the wrath of elements of the Sabbat she cannot control.
Rose, Asa and Zachary make plans with Vykos and her Paladin, Samantina, to await a phone call in one week’s time and to make themselves scarce until then. They agree.
Asa’s hand and Rose’s arm are removed by the expert hands of the Tzimisce. They elect to saw off Zachary’s arm, as his blood is seen as poison. He passes out from the experience. In the time he is under, Zachary has a vision or dream, seeing a founding moment of the Sabbat and Sascha’s place in it.
The three nip out of RFK Stadium with Samantina’s help. Il Gran Ballo rages on as Asa, Rose and Zachary make their way to the getaway car beyond the tent city.
Read the Canticles of the Prophet Zachariah for “A Separate Piece” here.
BOOK II, Story 3: , Chapter 1, part 3: Taketh the Cup
Gwenevieve remains at the Sabbat’s “Il Gran Ballo” long after her secret allies had descended into the depths of the stadium with a Tzimisce monstrosity. Having enjoyed the floor show, she partakes in some light refreshment provided by her former landlord: the staked and bled Toreador Primogen as-was, Philippe.
All is not well for Gwenevieve, however, as her spirits sent to monitor the proceedings return to her with disturbing reports. They see other spirits, outside of Family control, who seem to be working in concert for forces unknown.
Gwen pinpoints the entropic energies around at least one of the hooded “advisor” figures crowded about the feet of Cardinal Ambrosio Luis Monçada. It stares back at Gwenevieve through its cowl.
The Tzimisce Priscus, Sascha Vykos, emerges from the bowels of RFK Stadium. Vykos unveils a statue of twisted flesh and calls the unfortunate matter with the Malkavian “solved.” The Black Hand Dominion, Matteusz, is livid. Sasha manages to calm him down, maintaining that she will get whatever information is necessary for the Sabbat in her way.
Gwen sees the flesh statue and recognizes her allies’ arms and hand. For a time, she thinks them dead . . . whatever the word is for someone turned into a pulsating, silently screaming mass of flesh.
Sascha Vykos calms the crowd by leading the Vaulderie and reminding them of the celebration. The Star will be something for the Priests to discuss, for sure, but for now, the Sect will join as one in Caine, bathed in the astral light of the Gehenna Star.
Gwenevieve sends her spirits Patrick and Clyde out to spy on and report back about the Sabbat necromancer after she learns from her spies that her allies survived the encounter with the Sabbat hierarchy. She leaves the ball with the Giovanni delegation. Carlo has Dr. Genet sit up front with the driver, rolls up the privacy window on the back and has a dangerous conversation with Gwen, sussing out whether she has stepped out too far on the ledge away from the interests of the Family. Gwenevieve assuages Carlo’s fears, asserts her loyalty and lays out a plan of action. Carlo is temporarily satisfied and the delegation returns to the Embassy at Congressional Cemetery.
Carlo is further incensed that Benjamin is being kept at the Embassy. The ambassador makes it clear to Gwen that none of these “guests” of Gwen’s are permitted in the skinlands of Congressional Cemetery from that point on for any purpose. He then passes the shroud to the Giovanni battlements in the Underworld.
Gwen leaves the Cemetery with Benjamin and a couple Puttanesca ghouls and they drive to the northwest Maryland suburbs of D.C. to meet their other allies at a Denny’s.
Read Gwenevieve’s Cronache della Sindone for “Il Gran Ballo” here.
Read the Canticles of the Prophet Zachariah for “Taketh the Cup” here.
Chapter 2: The Gather
BOOK II, Story 3, Chapter 2, part 1: Domine, obsecro te
Gwenevieve and Benjamin arrive at Denny’s with two Puttanesca ghouls. Rose arrives beforehand in an obfuscated car filled with Cedric, Comet, Asa and Zachary. After some obfuscation, third eye hijinx and frenzied feeding of local wildlife, the newfound coterie meets in Denny’s to plan their next move. Cedric Dominates the late-night diners celebrating Christmas alone/together at Denny’s and sends them driving away, one by one.
The coterie leaves in their two vehicles into the wilds of the Blue Ridge Mountains. They give the Bubble a wide berth, traveling across the Potomac into Virginia far to the west of it. They arrive at Frieda’s farm early in the morning, a few scant hours before sunrise.
Rose speaks with her clanmate. Frieda is wary about allowing these unknown men to stay at her farm, but trusts Rose and asks a favor in return. The ghouls for whom she has been caring are undergoing acute withdrawal. As members of the Sisterhood, neither Rose nor Frieda’s blood will sustain them.
Rose takes back the predicament to her coterie. They decide to take Frieda up on her deal and gift vitae from Asa to save the three ghouls. Asa has much doubt, knowing how this act endangers the walking of the Suspir. Weighing the alternatives, he elects to feed them his blood. Asa is only barely capable of doing it however, requiring a great deal of will to overcome a tenet of belief.
That day, the group dies in Frieda’s light-proof barn. Zachary begins his daily dream: this time in Vienna, Austria. Asa appears, and Zachary begins to learn how he can bring others into a dream. He feels the need to when the conversation before him is being conducted in latin.
Deep in a heavily-warded stone crypt below a fountain in the Austrian capital, a tall, skinny man in a robe pleads over his master. Gwenevieve and Rose are brought into the dream by Zachary when they do not fight the advance from his mind. The coterie watches, invisible to the man as he claims that it is the Tremere who engineered the overthrow of Prince George to give their agents more free reign in the ensuing chaos. He then reports to his master that the Mad One has arisen in a fledgling and is aided by a Salubri. And that they are being tracked by the Tremere’s best agents. He pleads for his master to rise to give orders. The man’s face is swimming in Vicissitude, however, and he is non-responsive. As the exasperated servant moves away, the twisted face of the man lying on the stone table resolves into that of an wizened gentleman with a third eye in the center of his forehead. He leans toward Asa and tells him that only Samael can help him now. Asa recognizes the man on the table as one from his visions before.
The face swirls with Vicissitude and the cruel white man from before asserts control. He sits up, looking around frantically and activates the wards, calling for his Councilor: “Etrius!!!” The skin and blood of the dreamers begins to boil and they are shot out of the dream.
The coterie wakes from their shared dream and take stock. Gwen, having slept in the trunk of the Giovanni bullet-proof vehicle, speaks with her frantic and badly-wounded spirit, Patrick. He tells her that Clyde had been subsumed by the rogue necromancer. Patrick had only barely escaped the clutches of the skull-faced Cainite.
Gwen tells the coterie of this attack and calls for the eradication of these Sabbat necromancers. J. Edgar hears of the death of his partner and shakes the barn to its foundations, yet Gwen calms the spirit, focusing its need for revenge.
The coterie feeds and sets out with Frieda, first in her flatbed truck and then on foot in the mountains. They climb, badly, down and up a mountain. Benjamin uses his blood for the first time and has the super strength to pull up Zachary when he nearly falls.
The coterie arrives near the mouth of the Sisterhood Cave. Rose goes on ahead to plead her case to Nana Kahenta.
Nana hears of the events leading up to Rose’s request. She imparts what she knows about the Gateways of the realms of being, as told to her by the spirits. Rose tells Kahenta about her struggle with her Beast. Kahenta tells Rose to speak to Luna Blue of the Sisterhood on the matter. She agrees to allow the other Gateways . . . and Benjamin . . . into the Gather. Though, she warns, the Sisterhood will never again meet in this cave.
Read Gwenevieve’s Cronache della Sindone for “Domine, obsecro te” here.
Read the Canticles of the Prophet Zachariah for “Domine, obsecro te” here.
BOOK II, Story 3: , Chapter 2, part 2: Bloody Guests
Rose leads her coterie into the Sisterhood’s cave to meet her bloodline for the Gather. They sit among the Sisters around a fire inside the first chamber of the cavern. The Sisterhood and their guests tell stories of their travels and ask their questions through the telling of tales.
Sisters speak of troubles with a group of Garou who walk the Black Spiral. The wounds from the battle had left one Sister scarred with blight and two others dead. Another sister speaks of her avenging her sister by sabotaging a Pentex Corporation facility in rural West Virginia.
Those with the Sight notice the fire in the center of the Sisterhood circle undulating with a force within it. The cave chamber is thick with scented smoke, as well as swept up dust as the Sisters continue their stories. In turn, Rose, Gwenevieve, Benjamin, Asa and Zachary share their tales.
Nana Kahenta guides Rose, Gwenevieve and Asa in the manipulation of the spiritual forces around the “node” in the fire and confirms that the three are, indeed, something the spirits had whispered to her about.
The existence of the cornfield Temple comes out in Zachary’s story. Nana and the others of the Sisterhood seem keen on seeing the anomaly.
Zachary asks Kahenta if anything is known to be able to break the bond of a ghoul (outside of the death of one or more parties). Nana does not know of such a ritual, and suggests the long and hard way.
Kahenta and the other sisters disperse following the formal Gather. Sisters move in twos and threes to other parts of the cave to carry on conversations spurred on by the stories told around the fire. One of these groupings include Asa. He walks with Olivia, for Olivia knows well a Salubri named Helena. She tells him of how she helped her when Helena was hunted by the Tremere. Helena is now miles away, but Olivia might be able to find her and meet back at the next half moon. Olivia talks with Asa about her failed Suspire that Helena had led her upon and the difficult path toward Golconda. “You can’t just punch your worst self in the face, unfortunately. That will only make you fail,” Olivia imparts.
Meanwhile, Zachary, Benjamin, Rose and Gwenevieve are back at the mouth of the cave, bathed in the astral light of the new node undulating above the fire. Left alone by the Sisterhood (save for a few mountain lion guards) the four have a confrontation that has been nights in the making. A ceremonial knife is put in Benjamin’s hands and the desperate ghoul is goaded into a foolish display of faith. He plunges the knife into his heart with his new vitae-infused strength and bleeds out in Zachary’s arms.
Asa hears the commotion and runs back up to the opening chamber of the cave to find Zachary embracing Benjamin into vampirism, with Rose’s tutelage. Asa is unable to reach Benjamin and Zachary in time to stop the soul transference. Gwenevieve watches in scientific enthrallment using her shroud sight at the moment the soul moves from human death to vampiric unlife.
Asa leaves the cave in rage, sitting on the ground outside of it on the mountainside and attempting to meditate. His meditations spike in anger however, and his third eye opens . . . glowing red.
Rose leaves the new sire and childe to their time together and retreats to the lower caverns to meet Luna Blue for a discussion. Luna instructs Rose on some of the things that she has learned, in broad strokes. But the first step on the Path, she suggests, is to truly get to know the spirit or spirits bound to her through the ritual re-embrace. They spend the rest of the night sitting in the oubliette, using only their human sight, so as to become lost in the stillness. They pull the smoke of the ritual fire from the chambers above into their blood sacs where their lungs once were. And there, they die for the day.
Benjamin begins the Malkavian Change, wracked with pain as he vomits forth his organs. As his mind expands beyond all human measure, he is capable only to say, “I did not know, but now I understand.”