Friday, October 22: Gweneveive Rossellini completes her wretched transformation upon a silk bed in a disused room in the family manor. The next evening, she is sent in an armored convoy with Enzo and other family “toughs” through the wilderness surrounding the manor away from everything Gwen has ever known. Gwen flies for the first time in a helicopter and sees the immensity of an American city as she is taken to an airport to fly out to her new destiny in Boston.

Saturday, October 23: Gweneveive is presented before the Malkavian Prince Quentin King of Boston (a figurehead of the Camarilla who only nominally holds the city — the true power of Boston is with the “Family”). She spies the many spirits who watch all of the Camarilla proceedings: for there are no secrets kept from the Giovanni. Following her acceptance into the city by the Prince, Jonathan Milliner takes her to the private island in the center of Boston Harbor that is a secret haven for the Giovanni. Gwenevieve is presented before her Uncle Andreas, the head of the family in Boston. She then learns of her true task as she studies: to help maintain the Family’s Well of Souls for their Grand Project. Gwen thus spends the next decade honing her necromancy skills and stirring the Well to keep the “battery” nice and ready for use . . . when the time comes.

Thursday, October 21: Gweneveive Rossellini is given a lavish party alongside her fellow Rossellini revenant sister, Agatha, at the family Loggia. She must prove her loyalty and ruthlessness to the Family/Clan as only one of the sisters is to be embraced. Drawing the knife from her sister’s back, Gwen emerges victorious. An incredulous and enraged Gabriella Rossellini reluctantly is forced to sire the young medium at the order of the visiting Anziani “Uncle Georgio.” Gwen goes through the change that night following the deeply painful Giovanni embrace.

Friday, February 11: Adrianna Josephine Dior leaves her boyfriend’s mansion in Reston, Virginia to meet with her ballroom House in Southeast. They all prepare for the Artistic Extravaganza Ball that evening. House Dior wins the night, and Adrianna captivates a twink named Danė with lots of money to throw around.

Saturday, February 12: After midnight following the Ball, Toreador Danė uses Presence to enrapture Adrianna and her friend and they all take a ride to the Metro. Adrianna agrees to show Danė her gallery the next day. After sunrise, Adrianna’s boyfriend Elijah tells her that he has to go to the middle east for work and will be gone for a week. Adrianna goes to her gallery to prepare for Danė’s arrival. He is enraptured by Adrianna’s work, but even more by her personally. In a moment of passion, he attacks her and drinks too deeply, killing her. In a panic, he Embraces Adrianna and she is reborn into the night. Danė flips out after his unauthorized siring and brings his new childe to his penthouse haven atop the Del Ray Tower above the club FUSE.

Sunday, February 13: Adrianna goes through her change and is helped along by Danė’s “boyfriends.” The following night, Adrianna and her sire have the big talk about the creatures of the night and Adrianna’s new powers. They attempt to decide upon a course of action, given Danė’s indiscretion.

Monday, February 14 (Valentine’s Day): Danė and Adrianna, now Desirée, go to Toreador-held Shirlington to the Signature Theatre to watch a show and to throw themselves at the mercy of the Keeper (and Danė’s sire) Melisand Granger. She meets the two before the Guild Salon and chastises her childe, threatening destruction. She gives Desirée one chance to prove herself by painting. Desirée surprises even herself as she creates a true masterwork depicting the Toreador before her. The others of her Clan see the work and are driven into distraction for at least an hour.

Tuesday, February 15: Following their reverie, the Toreador pull themselves together and Melisand makes her judgement: 10 years of torpor for her wayward childe and a reprieve for the great artist Desirée. Melisand pledges to present Desirée herself to Prince Elaine and pass her off as her own childe in hopes of leniency from the Prince. The other Toreador are sent away with instructions to keep quiet. Melisand takes Desirée under her wing and drills her about her life. Melisand and Desirée go to Desirée’s gallery to deal with matters there. After Melisand takes possession of it, she drops off her charge at Danė’s penthouse. The following night, Melisand returns and has the aid of the Ventrue Sandra Polloch in wiping the minds of Danė’s model boyfriends. Melisand takes possession of two of the ghouls to be ceded to the Crown, and leaves the other to manage Fuse in her name (with Desirée serving as intermediary).

Wednesday, February 16: Desirée is taught the Traditions and is prepared for the grilling she will get from the Prince. Melisand takes Desirée on a tour of a (mostly) empty Elysium, but is met by Seneschal Vittorio of the Tremere.

Thursday, February 17: Desirée makes a difficult phone call to her boyfriend, but keeps him strung along. She is coiffed and prepared for Presentation at Elysium.

Friday, February 18: Just after midnight, Desirée attends Elysium and is presented before Prince Elaine. She is accepted, but at a great cost to Clan Toreador.

Tuesday, May 3: Alazar Makonnen starts his daily run at Langley CIA Headquarters with his work friend Jackson Hodges. He is congratulated at work for his last mission's success and told he might be up for a promotion to “something big” out of Andrews Air Force Base. He sees his children, even though his son doesn’t even know who he is.

Wednesday, May 4: Alazar meets with Colonel Smithson at Andrews and is given a mission after a battery of strange tests. He is to drug and kidnap his friend and deliver him to Hangar 13 by midnight the next evening.

Thursday, May 5: Alazar runs with Jackson and invites him for coffee. He then steals some Rohypnol from the hospital and prepares his apartment for the deed. While messy, he gets the job done and delivers Jackson to Andrews AFB in time for a new man, Peter, to introduce himself as Alazar’s new handler.

Friday, May 6: Alazar begins his intense “super soldier” training and begins taking little red pills given to him by his new handlers.

Saturday, May 7: Alazar trains further, but does better this time and continues to take the pills, feeling stronger in his admiration of Peter Dorfman. Danica Alviera gives Alazar a tattoo of the number 7 and he is renamed “#7.”

Sunday, May 8: #7 is prepared further with more training, tests, grooming and pills. He is asked to cut his pinky off and does so without hesitation. Peter Dorfman reapplies the lost digit using the power of his blood and gives #7 his next mission: to infiltrate the CIA and put a floppy disk in his former handler’s computer.

Monday, May 9: #7 does his mission for Peter Dorfman and successfully uses the floppy disk in the CIA. When he gets home, his father calls to tell him that his children and ex-wife are missing. He investigates, but finds nothing. He returns to Andrews Air Force Base and is Embraced into the Clan and House Tremere. His first order of business is to feed, and he is brought an appropriate meal . . . his former running buddy, Jackson.

Tuesday, May 10: Following his repast, #7 is initiated into the Tremere by no less than a Councilor of Seven, as his auspicious siring was for the perfect spy. #7 is sequestered into a tiled room for his Becoming with sigil-encrusted urns to collect his discarded human organs. The next night, #7 is put through a bit of an orientation by #4. He goes through a series of blood transfusions (as the Tremere collect large samples of his vitae for heaven-knows-what) and then Discipline practice. At last, he is taken to a War Room to meet with Pontifex Peter Dorfman who gives his agent a run down of the Shadow War.

Friday, July 13: Thaïs Wyche-Key has a shitty day at work at Hybla Valley Motors with a less-than-enjoyable call with her mother. Her mood turns around when her best friend Drea has some great news about a new job working as a nurse at the new iNova Fairfax Hospital. The two friends decide to go out that night to celebrate. Drea and Thaïs meet up with Boo and Petra at a rave in a Fairfax industrial park. The heavy lightning knocks out a transformer and power is lost to a whole area. The gang dashes through the rain to Petra’s squat for an afterparty at her squat. They light candles and play some darts before Boo hears a strange noise downstairs.When they go to investigate, no one is prepared to meet the monstrous creature below. Thaïs helps Boo to escape, but they are all too late to help Petra and Drea. Three strangers bust into the area to take on the creature. With Thaïs’ help, they are able to subdue it, but not before Thaïs is dealt what would normally be a fatal blow.

Saturday, July 14: Thaïs dreams of her youth with her parents at the Louisiana State Fair, but awakens to the embrace. She is in Jason’s dojo in Annandale and has a difficult time with him explaining what is going on. She begins to vomit and spends the day in the bathroom. When she arises, she showers and fixes the ruined toilet. She then joins her sire in her first real night of unlife. She goes on the roof of her old home to see the stars as she had never seen them before.

Saturday, August 4: Thaïs walks the streets of Old Town Alexandria with her sire, Jason, and then comes upon Elysium for her presentation. Desirée was to present a painting of the Prince, but it was stolen by a culprit unknown. Following meeting the Prince (and Desirée, among others), she goes to the dungeons with Jason to take a little souvenir of the creature who killed her friend. She meets up with Desirée and the two hit it off. Thaïs pledges her support in finding the thief of Desirée’s painting. They go to Desirée’s penthouse to freshen up and then take a joy ride to a Brujah Rave where Thaïs wins a one-on-one with Bozwell.

Sunday, August 5: Following the Rave, Desirée retires to her penthouse in Del Ray and Thaïs returns to the dojo in Annandale. The following evening, the two meet up at Club Euphonia after Thaïs has a sparring session and Desirée has a little sip from a reveler at her club. Desirée attempts to give Thaïs a little lesson on the facts of unlife and how to get blood through seduction, but ultimately allows her to drink from one of her ghouls. Unfortunately, Desirée loses control and drinks too much, just as Cylus Pine arrives as per their agreement. Desirée fixes the situation with the help of her ghoul Sebastian. Desirée and Thaïs meet with Cylus. Cylus gives the two a rundown of their target: a Settite named Marcel. They are to ply him with drugs and sex, beat him up, stake him and bring him to Cylus. After Cylus leaves, Desirée calls Melisand to get her to send over a few Toreador ghouls to help with the situation. All goes according to plan as Marcel is seduced for a private “kiss.” As he transforms into a more serpentine form, Thaïs stakes him.

Monday, August 6: Desirée orders Thaïs to break the arms and legs of the torpid Marcel. They bring the unfortunate Settite to the Bowl America garage to be given to Cylus Pine and the Nosferatu. In return, Cylus tells Desirée where her painting is (it never moved: Cylus had a trick frame made). He left the pair with $3 million to keep their mouths shut and departed. Desirée and Thaïs went to Elysium to find the Prince and Vittorio. Unveiling the painting, they both found it captivating. Prince Elaine waived Desiree’s annual dues in payment for the painting.

Monday, April 1 (April Fool’s Day): Juniper Anne Garrow meets with her ailing former social worker in an elder care facility. She goes to the apartment she was staying in, only to find her former foster sister’s boyfriend is out of the slammer and means bad news for her. She grabs the last of her stuff and leaves. Now on the streets, Juniper enjoys a day of crimes, first with a little light property damage (or improvement?), theft and then finishing up with credit card fraud at a fancy hotel.

Tuesday, April 2: Juniper has A DAY. First, she runs from the police (after her for credit card fraud and theft of service), injuring herself in the process. After losing a lot of blood, she is arrested and wakes up in a hospital. She escapes the hospital, crashes a car and then is nearly raped or killed (or both?) by a group of wandering thugs while she looks for a crack house. A strange woman uses unique powers to save Juniper and pin the “mess” on one of the assailants. Juniper goes with the woman, Prentiss, to Ivy City where she is Dominated and put to sleep.

Wednesday, April 3: Juniper wakes in a windowless attic dressed as a baby doll, strapped to a child’s first potty. Prentiss shows just how truly unhinged she is in a macabre tea party for her new “China Doll” Juniper. Prentiss’ ghoul Nathaniel is tasked with watching over Juniper during the day. Juniper is Embraced shortly after nightfall in a disturbing display.

Thursday, April 4: Juniper spends the rest of the evening puking her guts out (literally) amongst the piles of stuffed animals in Prentiss’ attic. The next night, she is led, still covered in gore, to the Psychology Department of nearby Gallaudet University to be presented to the Malkavian elder, Joan. Joan seems to know something about her and speaks in her mind, but acts as though this is of no consequence to Prentiss. Juniper - now called “Jinx” begins her long tutelage under her overbearing sire, trapped in the Malkavian territory of Gallaudet/Ivy City until Prentiss feels like presenting her to the Prince.

Friday, June 7: Vito Armandasanti is having dinner in his fine estate in Chevy Chase, Maryland with his mother and sister when they are interrupted by “business.” Vito questions a Russian who is making trouble on the docks for his boys. He has the interloper’s arm cut off, but sees an interesting tattoo on the man’s underarm in the process. Vito is told by his CFO that his bank, Common Commerce, is having major solvency problems. Vito’s old flame, Alice, unexpectedly sets up a meeting with Vito, only to tell him that they share a teenage son who needs his kidney in a transplant operation to survive.

Saturday, June 8: Vito goes to the National Opera with his mother. Two strange people stare at him. Vito sets up a meeting with the Russian mafia organization, “Arkangel.”

Sunday, June 9: Vito goes to church with his family. He attends a benefit gala downtown and is treated strangely by Maranda Logue and the other Vencor businesspeople. Patrick, CFO of Common Commerce, warns Vito that the bank is insolvent and that they will need to take a “Bank holiday” on Monday.

Monday, June 10: Vito receives confirmation that Matthew William DuVaule is indeed his biological son. Maranda Logue attempts to buy Common Commerce from Vito for any amount of money, but he turns her down. An “angel investor” comes in to infuse fresh cash into the bank, just as Vito refuses to sell.

Tuesday, June 11: Vito makes plans and meets with Teras of the Russians. The Russians agree to hold off war for a week as they bring Vito’s proposal to the boss.

Wednesday, June 12: Vito undergoes surgery to donate one of his kidneys to his son. He awakes in pain in the hospital

Thursday, June 13: Vito gets an opportunity to meet his son and they agree, tentatively, to try and build a relationship.

Monday, June 17: Vito accepts an invitation to meet with a Mr. Barnaby Wilcox at the exclusive Pendentist Club and gets an interesting offer that he doesn’t refuse. Vito sets the next few days putting his affairs in order, growing a beard, and at last meeting with Nikoli of the Brujah to stick it to him as a messenger of Wilcox.

Wednesday, July 3: Vito meets Mr. Wilcox and accepts his offer of immortality. He is Embraced and goes through the change in one of Wilcox’s penthouses on K Street.

Thursday, July 4 (U.S. Independence Day): Vito, renamed “Vitus,” gets his early education in the ways of the Ventrue. Vitus goes out with his sire to sample the wonders of Independence Day in Washington, D.C. He learns of his prey “proclivity” and then has a long chat with Wilcox about the Ventrue, the Camarilla and the society of the Night.

Friday, July 5: Vitus continues his Agoge with his sire, Barnaby Wilcox, for the next two weeks at the K Street Penthouse.

Thrusday, July 23: Vitus is presented before Prince George of Georgetown. Joan intercedes to spare the life of a neonate from the harsh sentence likely to be levied by George.

Friday, July 24: Vitus is presented before the Chairman of the Board of Vencor, Jordan Bingham. The two travel by helicopter to the Alexandria Elysium at the Torpedo Factory. Vitus is presented to Prince Elaine and meets the Seneschal Vittorio.

Saturday, June 25: Vitus returns to his estate in Silver Spring. He catches his sister having carnal relations with one of his men, Luca. His mother seems put off by something about her beloved Vito.

Sunday, June 26: Vitus’ mother confronts her son and has a heart attack and dies.

Friday, August 9: Jinx manages to give Prentiss the slip while her sire is off “working” for the Camarilla. Jinx meets J.T. of the Brujah. When she returns home to Ivy City, she is staked and put in the attic for two weeks for her disobedience.

Friday, October 6: Henry Vasiliev wakes from a bit of a hangover after clubbing with a strange hookup named “James.” While at work at the University of Maryland, Henry is shown an impossible specimen. He has a disastrous dinner with his wife and in-laws. That night, something from the shadows attacks Henry in his bed.

Saturday, October 7: All of Henry’s bugs are gone! However, there are plenty of files in his house. He wakes feeling sick. The police are less than helpful. Henry goes to Tracks to see his friend. He is followed by something and attacked again.

Sunday, October 8: Henry wakes invigorated but ugly (unbeknownst to him, he is ghouled). He begins obsessing over James, who left a message on his new AT&T voice messaging machine. Henry finds James’ walkman under his bed filled with creepy love songs for “Beautiful.” Henry meets James near Tracks and the two go to (ostensibly) James’ place to hook up. It is an empty apartment, yet filled with flies. The two begin to make out and Henry is overcome with ecstasy as he passes out (from blood loss).

Monday, October 9: Henry wakes from his stupor in the Nosferatu “Cloak Room” deep in the Undercity. There James (now Bottleneck) tries to explain a little of what is to happen, but ends up only being cryptic as he Embraces Henry. Henry begins the week-long horrendous process of the Nosferatu change.

Sunday, October 15: Henry finishes his process of Becoming and is taken on a tour of the Undercity by his sire. Henry is presented to the One Below, the Prince of the Undercity, Caius. On the way to see the One Below, the Moravignian hags seem to notice something strange in Henry’s steps. Caius gives Henry the job of Deep Shepard, which pleases him: given the options. Henry meets his sire’s sire and a whole civilization of people who will become his friends over the next several years. He is reunited with his bugs, who he ghouls to lengthen their lifespans.

Wednesday, December 25 (Christmas Day): Vincent Rose Blackburn has a drug-infused blast of a Christmas celebration with his roommates and dog. They decorate their tree with condoms and cigarette butts. Rose could swear that he sees green eyes staring at him through his window, but he is pretty sure that it is just the shrooms.

Thursday, December 26 (Boxing Day): Rose is ready for his underground prize fight at The Red Dog. He has an odd customer, Bennett, who doesn’t seem to eat or drink his order, but warns Rose that a big dude will be going against him in the ring that night. Rose faces Baruch in the ring, but bests the big lug, to everyone’s surprise.

Friday, December 27: Rose’s roommates take him home after the match in the wee hours of the night. Rose’s dog, Thorne, needs to go out. But as Rose takes his dog out, Thorne slips his leash and runs off into Rock Creek Park. Rose is attacked by the fog, or someone who was the fog. Rose manages to get Thorne to run away back to their house before things get too bloody. Bennett embraces Rose, gives them a very short talk about some of the basics, tells them that the Gangrel needed fighters like him, but that he should go “take care of your shit” and meet Bennett at the strike of midnight at the beginning of 1986 at the Elk’s Lodge in Bowie, Maryland. Thorne does not seem to recognize Rose and rejects him. Rose heads out into the night and ends up at a derelict U-Store It to hole up for the day (and to vomit out his insides).

Saturday, December 28: Rose struggles with his new identity. He travels to Rockville, Md. and then to Gaithersburg and onward toward Germantown, but is stopped short by the baying of Lupines. He gives them the slip and makes his way back to Gaithersburg to steal some clothes. He heads on back to Rockville where he meets up with Clanmate Vandy Rae who takes him in for the night. She explains a few basics to him in exchange for a minor “favor” to be called in at another time.

Sunday, December 29: Rose makes their way to Bowie, Maryland with a few stops along the way. They commit squirrel genocide and rest in the Pine Family Crypt in the Bowie Cemetery. Rose lays low the next day.

Tuesday, December 31: Rose gets a bit lost and sees a group of people hitting around a severed head in a macabre game of croquet at the Bowie Skate-O-Rama. Rose flees quietly and makes their way to a mortal New Year’s Eve party in downtown Bowie. He asks directions and finds the Elk’s Lodge, where he is reunited with his erstwhile sire, Bennett. Jinx rides in the back of the Mercedes with her sire, Prentiss, while the ghoul, Nathaniel, drives. They arrive at the Elk’s Lodge in Bowie, Md. just before midnight.

Wednesday, January 1: The Battle of Bowie. Jinx and Rose meet Kindred from several Clans at the meeting in the Bowie Elk’s Lodge. After gathering weapons and provisions, the S’eth Adar forces head out for the mission: the eradication of Sabbat in Bowie. Rose tells of their earlier reconnaissance at the Bowie Skate-O-Rama, so Priest has Rose, Jinx and Prentiss lead the advance spy team. The three scout out as Jinx heads to a shed around the side. The Sabbat pack is doing some sort of ritual when the advance team is spotted. Prentiss calls for the attack. The Camarilla forces are victorious, though take a few losses.

Monday, January 6: Jinx and Rose are presented before Prince George of Georgetown.

Saturday, May 7: Desirée and Thaïs see a shocking news broadcast in which the reporter goes terribly “off script” in a rant about vampires controlling the world: and actually gets quite a few things dangerously close to being right. Desirée is holding a “grand opening” for her rebranded Club Euphonia that night. Thaïs gets a package delivered through her trucking service during the day as she slept as a “favor” to the Nosferatu. The crate actually held a Richmond Nosferatu calling herself Julia Pine. Desirée and Thaïs accept the handsome reward from Cylus of the Nosferatu at Club Euphonia.

Sunday, May 8: Thaïs gets very high on cocaine-blood. Simone Laurentiis of the Tremere pays Desirée a visit at the club to get her help in sealing the breach created by the newscaster. The Tremere want Desirée and Thaïs to use their talent agency and contacts to produce a bad film about vampires as the rationale behind the “publicity stunt” of a newscaster spouting about vampires on air. Thaïs believes that Desirée is her dead friend Drea because of Desirée’s (accidentally too good) use of Presence and Thaïs’ extremely inebriated state. Desirée helps Thaïs get home and the two die for the day at H&H Ranch. The next evening, Desirée and Thaïs work on setting up directors, actors and so on to work on the D-list vampire movie the Tremere have commissioned them to make to seal the breach.

May-July 23: Thaïs and Desirée produce a shitty vampire movie using their stable of actors and creatives. They outsource some of the voiceover work and it is actually Zachary Sellz, a lowly young DJ, who beats out his best friend Benjamin Meyer for an “IN A WORLD” trailer voiceover job.

Monday, July 23: Thaïs and Desirée go to Elyisum to meet up with Simone Laurentiis. They give over the movie canisters to their D-list vampire movie only after they secure a minor Boon from Clan Tremere.

Wednesday, February 8: Henry is brought before Caius a second time. A Nosferatu Operative has been killed in the field and must be replaced. Henry is chosen for a new life: to join the Operatives in their missions in the smoothskin lands topside.

Thursday, February 9: Henry moves with his boyfriend to the Upper Warrens to a large sewer suite. The nesting lovebirds die for the day in each other’s slimy arms. The next evening, Henry awakes and goes to work for the first day as an Operative. Henry is trained in Camarilla politics and geography and is prepared for his life as “Henry Pine.”

Friday, February 10: In the first part of the night, Henry is trained for his upcoming smoothskin lands foray. He goes home near dawn to nestle near his obsessive Lord of the Flies. When he wakes from death the next night, he goes to work and is dressed for his Presentation. The first stop is the Elysium of the Domain of Georgetown. He is presented before the hedonistic Toreador Prince George who seems unimpressed, but otherwise allows him to be in his territory, as long as he sticks to the homeless and away from the decent Kindred of the realm. Henry takes the Metro with Cylus Pine, the sire of his cover story, to Alexandria across the river to present himself to the Tremere Prince Elaine. Henry meets a few others and gets through his Presentation well enough. Cylus escorts him back to the Undercity.

Saturday, February 11: Henry goes on his first mission in Georgetown: a scavenger hunt with Geronimo “G” Jones to nab a key card from a guard at the Smithsonian National Zoo. He gets by well enough with the aid of some rat friends. The pair of Operatives make their way back to the Nosferatu Action Room.

Sunday, February 12: After midnight, upon returning from his mission topside, Henry is given a new (real) mission from his handler, Mary Pine. He is to befriend Vito “Vitus” Armandasanti of Clan Ventrue of the Domain of Georgetown. Vitus had only been embraced a few years ago, and so was new to the blood. The Nosferatu need to cultivate friendships with the Clan of Kings, and Armandasanti was the perfect target. Henry accepts his mission to make himself indispensable to Vitus, yet reporting on his activities to the Operatives all the while.

Monday, February 13: Vitus attends the Vencor monthly Board Meeting in Rosslyn. He agrees to settle the Russian Brujah matter at the Southeast docks.

Tuesday, February 14: Henry and Bottleneck have a “romantic” Valentine’s date in the sewer. Vitus and Henry meet at the Alexandria Elysium for the Valentine’s Regatta in the Sandra Polloch Boat House opening. Henry makes his way to Vitus’ estate in Chevy Chase to continue their meeting. Meanwhile, Jinx wakes from a prophetic dream about a vampire serial killer targeting co-eds. Independently, S’eth Adar lieutenant Rose gets a call to travel to the Gangrel Domain of College Park, Md. with his partner, Prentiss. They meet with the domain’s Domitor Robert Schroyer: a Gangrel who is out of his depth. There had been some Masquerade-breaching murder of a student, so Prentiss and Rose investigate. While Prentiss is mind-wiping the murdered student’s fraternity to fit the “alcohol poisoning” cover story, Rose bumps into Jinx who is doing an investigation of her own. Rose and Jinx track down the murderer, who turns out to be the victim from Jinx’s vision, Allie. Scared and confused, Allie appears to have murdered her roommate as well as her boyfriend. Jinx helps Allie to escape the grasp of Jinx’s sire Prentiss.

Wednesday, February 15: The Georgetown Coterie Meets For The First Time. Jinx and Allie make their way to Southeast to a no-tell-motel to bed for the night. Rose tries to track the two down, but doesn’t manage to find them. Instead, he scopes out Jinx’s haven and beds there for the day. Henry and Vitus continue their investigation after traveling to Carapace Containers in the Southeast docks. Henry uses his powers of obfuscation, his excellent vision as well as his ability to read lips and understand Russian to spy on the workers and Kindred at the Arkangel Dock. Nikoli is having a conversation with Sergei and Nadia about an incoming shipment of a mysterious giant slab of sandstone that must be smuggled into Alexandria. Henry narrowly escapes the Brujah conference and Vitus uses his Dark Gifts to dazzle his pursuer. The pair head for Vitus’ manor for rest. The next night, Henry wakes near frenzy and slakes his thirst on the wildlife of the woods surrounding Vitus’ mansion. Following Henry’s outburst, he cleans up, is fitted for a suit and the two go to the Pendentist Club in D.C. to meet with Ventrue Primogen of Alexandria, Jordan Bingham. Jordan assesses the situation and surreptitiously reads Henry’s mind. He gives Vitus further orders to find out what the Anarchs took from the Texas Instruments heist. Meanwhile, Jinx and Allie have a terse exchange with one of Vito’s ghouls at the Misty Sands Motel and then make their way to Dharma Coffee House to beg for the Anarch’s help through Jinx’s broodmate Comet. They agree, after Jinx takes on a sizable debt, to help smuggle Allie out of the city. Rose had spent the day at Jinx’s haven, and upon waking, finds the Malkavian Primogen Joan nonplussed at the Gangrel’s uninvited intrusion. She politely scolds him and then goes with him to find her great-grandchilde Jinx across town, using Comet’s mind as a conduit. The pair arrive at Dharma and Joan then leaves with Comet. Jinx and Rose meet up, but Jinx is upset that Rose broke into her haven and slept there. To prove a point, she Dominates Rose, but the humiliation leads him to frenzy. Just at that, Vito and Henry pull up in the Rolls Royce. Vito uses his newfound powers to calm things down and prevent a Masquerade breach. The four leave together in the Rolls to go back to Vitus’ manor to hash things out. On the way, Jinx runs into traffic, but the second Masquerade violation is smoothed over with the help of Vitus’ mastery over Dominate.

Thursday, February 16: Rose, Vitus, Henry and Jinx arrive at Vitus’ home for a come-to-Caine meeting about respecting the Masquerade and a possibility of working together more. They bed for the day in Vitus’ luxurious accommodations. The following evening, Vitus offers to take the new coterie out shopping, but Henry takes a rain check, deciding that he would do well to report back to the sewers. When he arrives to the scene of his chambers, he finds them wrecked, his insect companions missing or destroyed and a letter with “Why did you make me do this?” in one of his ghouled creature’s enclosures. Henry speaks with Mary Pine and gives her all of the intel he gathered on the surface. He then confides in her about his troubles with Bottleneck. Mary orders Bottleneck to report to her: if he can be found. In College Park, Md., Rose, Vitus and Jinx, joined by CP Domitor Robert Schroyer, track down Brock Thompson (the group finally has a name to go with the face in Jinx’s visions). They find his lair in the still-under-construction Arts Centre. While he has left to hunt with one of his new college creations, he has left a frat boy to die on the slab. Jinx ghouls the young man.

Friday, February 17: Rose, Vitus and Jinx continue in their hunt for Brock Thompson, having found a staked girl and dying boy in the photographer’s lair. They track him to a sorority house (Sigma Delta Tau) and Rose ascends a trellis to find him in a girl’s room, embracing her. Brock quickly imbibes a bottle of elder blood and attacks. The girl, in frenzy, joins the fray. Rose manages to stake Brock, but Jinx is overcome by the power of the elder blood and sucks the remains of Brock’s bottle out from the carpet. Jinx is elated with power and “flies” to the ground, a story below. Rose, in their “berserk” state, falls to the call of the elder blood still flowing second-hand in the body of the staked 12th generation Brock, and feeds until Brock is but a torpid “mummy.” The team quickly leaves and has Bobby stay behind to deal with the Masquerade breach . . . in return he will be partaking in the boon from the Prince of Alexandria with the others. The team arrives in Chevy Chase at Vitus’ manor and meets up with Henry. Jinx displays her powers and makes a mess (though is chided by Vitus and cleans it up quickly). Still no sign of Bottleneck. Jinx wakes up Chad and tries to give him a “talk,” but ends up calling in Vitus for help. Vitus intimidates Chad into staying for the day and the coterie falls to death for the day. Jinx has another short dream of the Lady . . . but this time on an island, not a lake. The next night, the coterie gives Chad “THE talk” about ghouldom. He is scared and confused, but needs a night to sleep on it, as Jinx wants to give him the choice of being her blood slave or of becoming a confused, strung out heroin junkie (but hey, at least he’s alive?). Vitus calls Martino Ansara and Jordan Bingham. Martino brings his helicopter to transfer the coterie with Brock Thompson’s torpid body to Alexandria Elysium. Jordan tells Vitus “good job,” and tells him to take no further action on the docks matter until they had discussed it face-to-face: hopefully before the upcoming Elysium in Alexandria on Thursday, February 23, 1989. After arriving on the rooftop of the Old Torpedo Factory, the coterie goes below to meet with Seneschal Vittorio. Bobby Schroyer and Prentiss arrive as well to gift a boon to Prentiss. Both Prentiss and Jinx are gifted temporary visas to attend the upcoming Elysium, though are told not to expect citizenship or welcome in Alexandria, as they are Malkavian. Brock Thompson’s torpid body is transferred below Elysium for “further study.” The coterie leaves Elysium to try to meet up with Brujah Primogen Jeremiah Banks. They find him among others of his Clan at Franklin’s Pub in Old Town Fairfax. They have a convivial time and then have a conversation with Jeremiah. He agrees to take on the two new staked girls in exchange for the boon to be gifted to Rose from the Crown.

Saturday, February 18: Vitus, Henry, Jinx and Rose go to Jinx’s flophouse apartment to pick up some items. Rose notices that Henry isn’t enthusiastic to return home and pieces together that something bad must me going on down there. Jinx and Chad have a discussion in Vitus’ kitchens and Chad decides to remain a ghoul, though Jinx nearly kills him when feeding, though fixes the problem with her blood. Henry goes to the forest surrounding Vitus’ manor to summon crows to spy on the Russian Brujah. As the murder takes flight for their mission, Henry is beset by his erstwhile partner Bottleneck. Bottleneck flies into an abusive rage. Rose had been stealthily following Henry and leaps from the shadows to intercede. A quick battle ensues with Rose nearly staking Bottleneck. Vitus brought out his security force who began to fire. Henry fought against his blood bond and sent his bees to attack his “beloved” sire. Bottleneck used his mastery of Obfuscation to disappear into the night. Henry collapsed into Rose’s arms, crying.

Sunday, February 19: Vitus and Jinx went to the Brown Bear Brewing Company in Centerville, Va. (in the a.m.) to bring the staked college kids to Jeremiah in exchange for Rose’s boon. Jeremiah happily accepted the “burden,” but seemed to Jinx to have felt he got the better end of the deal.

Tuesday, February 21: Vitus met with Jordan Bingham on the golf course at the Army-Navy Country Club in Arlington, Va. While Vitus’ swing could use some work (Jordan suggested he start with put-put), the two Ventrue conducted business. Vitus was gifted with the joint import-export business of Arkangel and Carapace Containers on the docks of Southeast to be conducted with Nadia of the Brujah. In exchange for his sovereignty of the small region, he was sworn to silence over the “sandstone pillar” matter.

Thursday, February 23: Vitus, Jinx, Henry, Rose, Thaïs and Desirée all attend Alexandria Elysium. Barnaby Wilcox socially saves Jinx from an encounter with her sire. Brock Thompson is sentenced to sun torture. Boons are given out and exchanged. Rose and Bobby Schroyer transfer their boons to Jeremiah and Prentiss respectively. Vitus takes the sovereignty of Shirlington (earning him the eternal enmity of Clan Toreador), Jinx takes the first Malkavian foothold in the Domain with a non-resident permit to hunting rights over Roosevelt Island and Little Island. Henry, Prentiss and Jeremiah hold onto their boons for the future. Thaïs has a flirty talk with the Gangrel Sheriff Sampson. Desirée is fascinated with Rose’s “look” and begs to paint them.

Friday, February 24: Henry discusses his predicament with his lover to his coterie mates.

Saturday, March 4: Rose and Jinx go on their first date. They take a boat from the rowing teams on the Potomac (as per Chad’s suggestion) and row to Theodore Roosevelt Island. They begin to hear oboe music wafting in the air and find Damien Luther Adams there. He was “playing a lullaby” to keep Hirut asleep. He warns Jinx about Hirut, the ancient, and about the rising of the elders. He leaves, seemingly forgetting all that he had told her.

Henry develops his feeding skills and finds a reliable source of food.

Vitus works with the S’eth Adar and makes a great name for himself as a valued volunteer “cleaner.” He does a few jobs for the Rangers as well.

Henry builds a web of mortal contacts and ghouls a gang leader to keep him “in the know.”

Rose attends Gangrel Gathers where they often learn from their mentor Priest. Priest introduces Rose to Big Frieda who has a wild spirit that Rose respects.

Jinx attends “night school” with her tutors and gets the (unofficial) equivalent of a GED.

Vitus works with Nadia of the Brujah to maintain the illicit import-export business on the docks of Southeast.

Henry improves his espionage skills and continues his missions for the Operatives.

Vitus builds up his new domain as Don of Shirlington. He invests heavily in real estate and it pays major dividends as the arts district thrives. He collects his rent from the Toreador.

Rose explores the spirituality of the Beast with the help of his new friend, Big Frieda.

Jinx continues painting prophesy murals in alleyways in the Malkavian-controlled Ivy City. One painting details a great conflagration and animals running. The other painting is of nine outstretched hands, touching one another, with angels coming through the center.

Vitus builds a paramilitary force of conditioned veteran super-soldiers at his command.

Henry helps to increase the Nosferatu communication system including cell and internet technology.

Rose takes on a number of contract killings for Vitus and uses the opportunity to feast.

Jinx studies astral projection under her mentor Joan. She learns how dangerous that dimension can be, with strange creatures prowling about.

Vitus has many long talks with the Praetor Jordan, always in his good graces. Vitus also attends the monthly Vencor Board Meetings, ever increasing his power. He has begun to sense that there are those who envy his rapid rise.

Henry and Mary Pine meet with the Moravignians to determine more about the blood bond between him and his erstwhile sire, Bottleneck. Bottleneck had been sending Henry macabre “gifts” of human hearts and worse to Vitus’ manor house. The Moravignians use the sight to determine that Bottleneck has broken his bond and has joined in with the Sabbat of Baltimore, likely spilling secrets of the Nosferatu commune.

Vitus joins the billionaire club as his internet startup “Squirtle” becomes the world’s number one pay-for-porn site in the early days of the internet.

Henry conducts a series of genetic and biological experiments, determining more about his internal hive.

Friday, October 8: Harold Benjamin (H.B.) Kershaw has his final assignment as a White House beat reporter. He asks some good questions and writes a good story, but he is still laid off by his boss who believes that his sickness is causing too much of a distraction for him to be a Post reporter. On his last assignment, a member of the custodial staff gives H.B. a packet with information on what could become an explosive local story about a Virginia congressman and a Manassas-based pharmaceutical company. He takes the package with him from the White House to study later. H.B. decides to go to his parents’ house in rural Maryland to decompress after his “soft firing.”

Saturday, October 9: Harold B. Kershaw begins his deep dive into the inner workings of Brexco and its ties to Congressman Donovan (and Donovan’s growing list of suspicious activity). From his parents’ house and with the help of a fax machine at a nearby Kinko’s, H.B. uses all of his investigative reporter skills.

Sunday, October 10: Harold B. Kershaw continues his investigation into Brexco and Rep. Donovan (D-Va.) from his parents’ house in Thurmont, Md. He speaks with a local reporter down in Manassas and elects to find more in Falls Church the following day.

Monday, October 11: Harold B. Kershaw travels with his father, Daryl, to Falls Church to continue his investigation, despite his worsening health. H.B. calls for an appointment with Dr. Durani (his oncologist) for Wednesday. H.B. goes to the offices of the Falls Church News Press to use his charisma to have a good look at their archives to determine more about the mysterious congressman and rise of Brexco. When he and his father go to H.B.’s apartment to pick up some clothes and other essentials, they are shocked to find that someone has rearranged all of H.B.’s furniture into a neat stack in the center of the main room and all of his papers, clothes and other materials have been sorted and neatly staked (with the business cards alphabetized). Daryl calls the police. The police dust for prints, but ultimately find nothing of use. 

Tuesday, October 12: Harold B. Kershaw is feeling much worse, but the itch he is feeling over the investigation into Brexco gives him sufficient reason to fight on. Harold travels to D.C. to meet with an EPA worker at a coffee shop off the record. The whistle-blower, Melinda Wyatt, tells H.B. about the shoddy job the agency did in approving a phosphorus sluice facility. A co-worker who had made a stink about it died shortly thereafter of cancer. Melinda’s boss, a Fred Lutzberry, warned her to drop the case and move on. H.B. recognized Lutzberry from the dossier implicating him as one of figures behind Donovan and Brexco. That night, Harold began to feel weak and fell to the ground. He called the paramedics. As he was waiting for them, a woman stood over him, comforting him before the ambulance arrived.

Wednesday, October 13: H.B. Kershaw was in the hospital, floating in and out of consciousness.

Thursday, October 14: H.B. Kershaw remained in the hospital and met with his oncologist, Dr. Durani. The news was not good.

Friday, October 15: H.B. Kershaw is released from the hospital to stay with his parents, though his prognosis is not great.

Saturday, October 16: H.B. Kershaw continues his investigations from his bed in his parents’ house.

Sunday, October 17: H.B. Kershaw drives into D.C. to meet with “Mary” at night in hopes that she will give him some information. She had cold called Kershaw with information about Donovan and Brexco. Mary Pine leads Kershaw below ground and embraces him.

Monday, October 18: H.B. Kershaw goes through his changes in the Nosferatu “Cloak Room.”

Tuesday, October 19: H.B. Kershaw continues to go through his changes in the Nosferatu “Cloak Room.”

Wednesday, October 20: H.B. Kershaw continues to go through his changes in the Nosferatu “Cloak Room.”

Thursday, October 21: Mary Pine leads H.B. Kershaw through the Undercity and presents him in the Court of Darkness to Caius. Kershaw is accepted as an Operative and begins his unlife as a Nosferatu.

Monday, October 31: Ezekiel “Asa” Freeman gets some bad health news from his doctor, but continues with his shift to care for “auntie” Desmond Charles. An elderly lady at a bus stop takes an interest in Asa and starts asking him odd questions. Late at night, Asa is terrorized by the old woman again as she stops by Asa’s apartment unannounced. He is ready to attack, but nothing comes of it. He begs a silent god for one more day of life.

Tuesday, November 1: Asa Freeman goes to his favorite comic store to chill out. He awkwardly flirts with the owner, Ryan. Lily takes Asa out on the town and the two go to Dupont Circle for the day. That night, Asa is confronted by the old woman, Diane, again. She offers him the embrace.

Wednesday, November 2: Diane uses mind tricks to have Asa moved to an abandoned YMCA somewhere in Fairfax to complete his “change.” There, she begins the long task of filling him into unlife as a Salubri. That day, Asa has disturbing dreams of an ancient entity. The following night, Diane answers many of Asa’s questions, but the pair must figure out what to do with Lily. They go to Fairfax Inova Hospital to meet Lily in the parking lot. Diane uses her Dominate on Lily to replace a John Doe body with tags for Asa and to pass him off as dead.

Thursday, November 3: Asa and Diane return to the condemned YMCA building to answer more questions about the ways of the Salubri.

Saturday, November 26: Gwenevieve Rossellini is suprised by a helicopter landing on the Giovanni island in Boston Harbor. She finds that her Aunt Lucretia has come to “clean house” and to give Gwen her a new posting. Lucretia tells Gwen of the situation in the Potomac Empire and that she will be following up on a “disturbance” reported in the Sudario.

Sunday, November 27: Zachary “DJ Zakz” Sellz has strange dreams and an even stranger “Caller #3” on his radio show with his best friend Benjamin. Gwenevieve lands in Sabbat-controlled Baltimore and is escorted by Carlo Giovanni to Camarilla territory. The Giovanni ambassador and Gwen seem to get along as he answers her questions. Gwen is presented before Prince George and is nominally accepted as an attaché to the Giovanni Embassy.

Monday, November 28: Zachary has dreams again, and his show gets weird again.

Tuesday, November 29: Zachary is attacked on his way home early in the morning by who he thought was a homeless man but turns out to be Immanuel of the Clan Malkavian. He reveals the TRUTH to the Prophet: Harbinger of Gehenna as he is Embraced. Zachary is left to find his own way to safety before the rays of the sun destroy him. He falls to death in his own vomit and creates a blood-organ-vomit cocoon in his closet where he pupates for the day. The next night, he cleans himself up, lights a menorah (with difficulty) and meets with his friend Benjamin. He begins to see visions and spirits in the sky. He sees his sire in the mirror and talks with him in the Cobweb for the first time.

Wednesday, November 30: During the Witching Hour at the station, Zachary gives a speech about his visions. The power to the station is cut and a strange tall man with a grey face comes in and uses powers, threatening Zachary. Zachary gets out of the station, taking his co-workers with him. After they get to “safety” in the parking lot, the three speak in a unified voice to Zachary, thanking him for being “his voice.” When the folks snap out of it, Patrica orders them all to go home, Zachary and Benjamin go to a restaurant to spin out about the end of the world. Later at Benjamin’s apartment, Zachary “comes out” as a vampire to his friend, who is surprised, but accepting. Meanwhile, atop the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, #7, given the mission name of “Septimus,” is given his first out-of-CEZ mission: to follow and report on Zachary Sellz. He meets with Vittorio Ghiribaldi and Peter Dorfman who brief him on the upcoming mission. Septimus travels to Chicago that night on a military plane from Andrews Air Force Base to spend the day in a cubby there. Upon awakening, Septimus, now “George,” hops on a commercial plane to Washington National Airport. He arrives back in D.C. and is intercepted by Camarilla security: the Sheriff and a Ranger. He is escorted to the Tremere Chantry, where he is given further instructions by his handler, the seneschal Vittorio, following his presentation to the Prince as “George.” Benjamin spends the day getting supplies, including blood and books (when he is not getting a few brief winks of sleep during the day). That night, Zachary and Ben try to parse out the difference between fact and fiction when it comes to vampires.

Thursday, December 1: Zachary and Benjamin are still in Benjamin’s apartment when there is a knocking at the door. Septimus had tracked down Benjamin and Zachary using a ritual. He introduces himself as George and gains Zachary’s trust by giving him some information about the Kindred and his powers. He suggests the pair go with him to somewhere others might not be looking for them. “George” gets a couple of rooms at the Hotel Americana and the three have a conference about the Camarilla and the forces of the night. Just at that, a flock of birds dive-bomb the motel room window, killing themselves in the process. That can’t be a good omen . . . The birds disappear upon inspection, but the harm they caused to George’s clothes remain. George takes the time to explain the facts of unlife to the friends and socially forces Benjamin to be ghouled. The following night, Zachary has another vision and visitation from his sire, Immanuel. “George” attempted to use Taste of Blood thaumaturgy to determine more about Zachary, but was visited with the vision of the Antediluvian Malkav. The ancient infected George’s mind. Benjamin and Zachary vowed to save the world.

Friday, December 2: George attempts to contact his superiors to inform them of the danger of an active antediluvian, however, his efforts are hampered by strange answers on the phone. George also noticed that his tongue was filled with ashes and there was a nasty burn where he had drawn the sigil for Taste of Blood. Zachary, George and Benjamin take a taxi to Club Euphonia, but George notices that they have a tail in the form of a black unmarked SUV. They arrive at Euphonia to find the women from Zachary’s vision, Thaïs and Desirée. Desirée has her ghouls bring the three up to the VIP lounge (they are clearly out of place and possibly Kindred). They have a brief discussion in a back room and are interrupted by Vittorio. Vittorio had Visited the mind of George, but frustratingly didn’t recognize him and assumed him to be a meddling Malkavian. He told Desirée to not be consorting with such trash and left in a huff. Zachary and George told Desirée about the coming apocalypse, but Thaïs reacted with extreme skepticism. The assembled discussed prophesies into the night.

Saturday, December 3: Thaïs, Desirée, Zachary and Benjamin all decide to go to Desirée’s more secluded gallery down the street and leave the club. As George/Number 7 is leaving the club, he tries again to call the Tremere. He is met outside with Lt. Garber and Danica Alviera. They “black bag” him, but not before he begs Zachary to follow him. A tail is placed on Desirée’s car, but they speed off. Number 7 is taken to Hangar 13, though shows his tattoo to Danica. She is surprised, but continues in her duty. While at the gallery, Zachary sees a painting that has the city in his vision. He is lost in it and has another mini-vision. Thaïs, Desirée, Zachary and Benjamin discuss what to do next. Zachary contacts both Damien Luther Adams and Joan through the Cobweb. Number 7 is taken to an interrogation room. Pontifex Dorfman is somewhat convinced by the story, only because of all of the evidence provided. He instructs 7 to carve out his tongue with a ritualistic blade. The Obfuscation curse is lifted with the drop of Malkavian blood removed from his system. The Pontifex springs into action, his memory restored. He takes 7 to the grand chamber to meet Councilor Meerlinda. Together, they use a blood ritual to contact the Council of Seven. The members deliberate, with 7 as a witness. They determine that 7 is to continue with this vessel until they can find the Temple, and then for the Tremere to strike, just as Tremere himself had foreseen. Seven is taken away from Hangar 13 in an armored SUV so that they can beat him up and throw him into the Potomac River so as to keep his cover plausible. Seven is to be a disgraced “Malkavian” who no one believes and that the Tremere thought of only as a nuisance to be run out of town, all because of the curse of Malkav (which is no longer, actually, active). Thaïs determines that she is going to talk to her Clanmate Nikoli in SE. He can lead her to Samal the Childe of [Toreador]. Number 7 is beaten and left in the river by the Tremere after he is given one last mission briefing. He crawls his way to Desirée’s art studio. Thaïs gets a little visit from her head gremlin, Boxcar. The old creature had been a friend/tormentor over the years since she was a child. Desirée has everyone brought to her club and then abandons them to see to her partner/ghoul back in Reston. Thaïs, Zachary, “George,” Benjamin and Sebastian go to meet Nikoli after Thaïs contacts him through her sire. He meets them at a warehouse in the Lincolnia Industrial Park in Arlandria. The tense meeting under the pretense of a business venture melts when Nikoli comes to realize that “Z” is actually the Prophet Zachariah. He excitedly prepares the way for his place in “destiny” and pledges to introduce him to Samal the following night. Meanwhile, Elijah tells Desirée in bed about how his work life has been getting strange. A guy named Henderson keeps hounding him about how he doesn’t appear to age and asking him strange questions. The silent partner/owner is coming in for a meeting with him tomorrow night at 10:30 p.m. Zachary, Thaïs, George and Benjamin all go to Thaïs’ ranch to die for the day. Thaïs introduces the troupe to her ghoul, Normandin. Zachary and George go to Thaïs’ basement to die for the day, yet Zachary reaches out into the Cobweb to seek his sire, Immanuel. Zachary stays with his sire in Immanuel’s last moments. Immanuel sacrifices himself in fire, rather than be caught by “Shadaal” and his forces. Zachary is brought back into his body, but his hand is badly burned “in the real world.” He falls to death for the day. The three Kindred rise the next evening. Zachary and George (now outfitted in cowboy clothes by Normandin), feed upon Thaïs’ horses Petra and Ember. Desirée arrives with vehicles and the party departs H&H Ranch for Daingerfield Island in Old Town Alexandria, where they are to meet Nikoli. At Daingerfield Island, the coterie meets Nikoli and Joan. Joan uses her mastery of Obfuscate to hide the group as they traverse the streets of Old Town Alexandria, avoiding the ever-watching eye of the Lighthouse Chantry. They arrive at a nondescript back door in an alley and Joan finds the secret entrance to OTCAL. They descend stairs into the underground facility where there is a grand library entryway. Nikoli and Joan wait in the library, for fear and reverence of the entity behind the double doors, but Zachary presses on and his associates follow. The central room of OTCAL is comprised of multiple panels of ancient parchment behind sheets of glass suspended in the air with cords and wires. Wires lead all around into a central column: a lit sandstone pillar. Computers whizz and whir and embankments of monitors read out binary code. The troupe begins to read some of the panels and the Kindred among the number seem to be able to actually understand some of the forbidden knowledge. The methuselah Samal, whose mind and will are in some way bound to the sandstone pillar, speaks to Zachary’s mind of things that have past and things to come. When the troupe begins to read, some are left shaken, others are left as gibbering messes on the floor, or have seizures with blood foam pouring out of their mouths. They have learned Words of Power, not spoken by Kindred or human tongues in countless millennia. Samal’s gaze turns to George as the hapless Tremere perceives a pulsating flesh tablet with the Words of the Eldest.

Sunday, December 4: Thaïs, Zachary, George, Desirée and Benjamin continue their research in the bowels of OTCAL, learning forbidden knowledge leaving each of them scarred. Zachary even sees visions of what most Kindred would consider to be Caine himself (though, who is to say?). After they had seen more than they could bare and after the cultists Joan and Nikoli had fed them, the group left OTCAL for Daingerfield Island in Obfuscation. Desirée and Thaïs said their goodbyes and left for their respective havens. George, Zachary and Benjamin travel with Joan across the river and through the city to Gallaudet University and Ivy City: the Malkavian Domain. There, they see murals created by the seer, Jinx. They bed down for the day below Gallaudet University in the Malkavian library crypt. Thaïs wakes the next evening and freshens her look with a haircut. Thaïs calls up Sampson and makes a sparring date with the Sheriff. Sampson meets Thaïs at Jason Li’s dojo in Annandale and the two have a rough, though far from deadly, match. Zachary and George both had disturbing dreams of the apocalypse. George and Zachary then went with Benjamin to his gifted dormitory to shower off the crusted blood from their dreams. After returning to the Malkavian library, Cedric and then Joan told the pair of the use of muslin sleep robes to record their blood sigil dreams. Cedric instructed Zachary in the use of the Cobweb without the benefit of the “training wheels” mirror. He also helped him to understand his Disciplines a bit better. Zachary, Benjamin and George left Cedric after they gabbed a bit about the seer Jinx. Zachary used his newfound abilities to bluff his way into the Gallaudet student library. Once back in the Malkavian library below the university, the three seekers read book after book on the human battles of the region.

Monday, December 5: Thaïs meets Desirée and heads to Penn Quarter in the Domain of Georgetown for a confrontation with Barnaby Wilcox. The Ventrue patrician finds it hard to believe that Desirée’s ghoul was not sent into his business to spy on him. He summarily fires and blacklists Elijah and sends Desirée and Thaïs packing. The gal pals plot their revenge. Desirée drops off her friend at Franklin’s Pub in Fairfax City and leaves. There, Thaïs meets with her clan elder, Jeremiah. Jeremiah tells his young clanmate of his scant knowledge of the “Abraham Incident” which led to the banning of the Malkavains from the Domain. Thaïs had her ghoul Eric Normandin come and pick her up and transport her back to H&H Ranch. Thaïs then bedded down for the day, but was visited with her first dreams since her Change. She dreamt of the fall of a great Brujah from her earlier visions, “The Heretic,” as he was left under the earth wrapped in the arms of another with the earth salted. She dreamt of a great power welling within her and using it to destroy the wight who had “killed” her years ago. Finally, she dreamt of the demon in the earth as well as the vampire Heretic bound with him calling out to her to find them and save them. Boxcar agreed, and made it seem as though perhaps he was the demon bound in the earth in that desert ruin. Thaïs woke covered in her own blood. She had a mini-freakout but calmed down after Normandin helped her with a shower. She had her hair cut and set out to George Mason University to try to learn more about the things she saw in her visions. At GMU, Thaïs met up with her clanmate, Professor Peter Forsythe. The academic Brujah led her to the restricted section of the library. There, he armed her with a stack of books on ancient civilizations and some of his understanding of Zoroastrianism and ancient Persian understandings of dark spirit servitors of Druj. Zachary, George and Benjamin continued their reading of books about the Civil War and Revolutionary War throughout the morning. During the day, George had a nightmare: again about falling into hell. He woke in terror and was soaked in bloodsweat. Zachary calmed him down. Zachary contacted Joan through the Cobweb and asked about Jinx. Joan seemed resigned to an upcoming fate. Zachary, Benjamin and George were given a Mustang by Cedric. They drove all the way out to Manassas to check out the battlefield on “a hunch.” Zachary used his newfound power to gain entry into the Visitor’s Center of the Manassas Battlefield Park. The trio searched around the empty grounds and found only grass.

Tuesday, December 6: Somewhat daunted by not finding much at Manassas Battlefield Park, Zachary, George and Benjamin left for Gallaudet before it was too late. However, the Mustang was running out of gas, so George stopped to fill up at Freddy’s Station in Fairfax. Zachary and George saw a fat man with a cart full of Barbie dolls with a strange aura walking by. Benjamin couldn’t see him. That was enough to spark the curiosity of the pair. Zachary left the car with Benjamin and followed George as they tailed the strange man. They followed him to his dilapidated townhouse on a block of condemned buildings. They obfuscated and snuck into his home. Once inside the sparse home, they saw only pictures of scared little girls on the walls but no furnature. They could hear the sounds of circus music upstairs. They found the Fat Man in a room upstairs swinging on a swing nearly naked with tentacles coming out of his back end. There were buckets filled with blood and human remains. Zachary stole the creature’s keychain and went downstairs to find the locked door to the basement. He clambered down the stairs (they were booby-trapped with upturned nails and bloody glass shards on the wall), and he found in the pitch darkness four small cells with crying little girls inside each. The creature realized that someone had stolen its keys. George identified the Fat Man as an Ålixir demon. Zachary bluffed his way using some Malkavian mind trickery to scare off the demon temporarily: long enough to rescue the girls after mesmirizing them. George, Benjamin and Zachary took the girls back to Gallaudet (were pulled over along the way, but George used his mind powers on the officer) where Joan took them under her charge. Zachary and George awoke that P.M. in their crypt-room in the Malkavians’ library under Gallaudet. They were happy enough that neither experienced horrid dreams of the apocalypse that day. Joan was seeing to the mind-wiping of the victims of the demon when all of the Malkavians in the library, Zachary included, got a Cobweb vision of the Cobweb’s expansion: a new set of eyes in Chad. While the Malkavians were distracted, George took the opportunity to ritually connect with Pontifex Peter Dorfman. He told Peter of the possible location of the temple: some time in the spring or summer near Manassas Battlefield Park. He also told the Potnifex of the demon encounter. Peter warned George/Number 7 that there had been spotted troop movements of the Sabbat threatening the Domain of Georgetown but that the Inner Council of the Camarilla was unlikely to lift a finger to do anything about it until it played out. He was told not to mention this to his compatriots, but only for his own protection. The Tremere would extricate him and the target (Zachary) if it became necessary, but to follow him until such a time as their target was in more danger than what George could handle. Jinx woke for the night at Vitus’ manor in Chevy Chase and had a routine feeding with her ghoul, Chad. While she was careful to only take enough not to hurt him, she entered a seer-trance and learns of things to come. When she woke, she found Chad dead at her feet: the walls written in a strange language with his blood. In a panic, Jinx embraced Chad. He began to go through the Change with all of its normal physical upheavals but heightened by the mental upheavals of the Malkavian embrace: and especially as the childe of such a powerful seer. Rose had a call from the S’eth Adar informing them of an attack last night at the manor house of the Ventrue Primogen (Vitus’ “neighbor,” Martino Ansara). Rose made their way out of Vitus’ manor to check on the crime scene a few miles down the road. Meanwhile, Henry had gone to the Undercity for a large meeting of the Underfolk. Darius explained that the Creature from the Depths had begun to stir and take victims. A task force of the more martially-inclined was formed to deal with the situation once and for all. Also, there had been a number of disturbing reports from above (as well as the lack of reports coming from Baltimore), leading the Nosferatu to put themselves on high alert. All but three entrances to the Georgetown Undercity were to be sealed and only authorized operatives, Henry among them, were to go topside. Henry was to serve as eyes and ears and to infiltrate the S’eth Adar alongside his targets Vitus and Rose to determine just how bad things might be getting. Thaïs attempted to call up Cylus, but left a message, as he could not be reached (he was dealing with the meeting of the Underfolk at the time). Earlier in the evening, Vitus called Jordan Bingham to return his message. Vitus was told of the Ansara assassination and was to lead the investigation for the Clan. On his way to fetch Jinx to bring as his seer, he walked in on her bloody work. Horrified and angered, Vitus told Jinx to follow him and that he would deal with Chad when they returned. Vitus ordered his underlings to stake Chad and have him brought to a secure location (likely, a holding cell below the “wine cellar.”). Henry met up with angry Vitus and crying Jinx and the three of them took an armored vehicle to the Ansara estate. There, they met Rose, S’eth Adar General Karl Raeger, Prentiss, J.T. and another S’eth Adar soldier and they commenced their investigations. Vitus led a team into the smoldering house (wearing protective gear . . . which was still quite dangerous for Kindred) to search for clues. Rose sniffed about and learned more of the attack and the use of Animalism combined with wired explosives as a first volley. Henry performed an unskilled autopsy on one of the felled ghouls, but still was able to determine that he had died of asphyxiation and bore the tell-tale markings of a human death by the banned Discipline Obtenebration. Jinx used her sight-beyond-sight to determine the Red Talon Sabbat Pack behind the attack on Martino. Following their investigation, the coterie returned to Vitus’ manor house where Jinx discovered that Chad had been removed from her room. She flew into a rage, but was calmed down by Vitus who assured her that Chad had been taken to a secure location for now. When Thaïs woke that P.M., she again prepared herself and went to meet Bozwell for a game of bowling. Thaïs trounced Bozwell, but got a little bit of information out of him about the folks in the Domain of Georgetown, including the Clan elder, Aloysia. Bozwell gave the best answers he had, but was unable to answer some of Thaïs’ more difficult questions. Zachary, Benjamin and George spent the rest of Tuesday P.M. in the Malkavian library, learning from Cedric the Malkavians’ take on the Clans and Disciplines as Joan rewired the minds of the rescued little girls.

Wednesday, December 7: The Fall of Georgetown. That morning, Thaïs returned to her ranch after visiting with Bozwell. She read up in her books and wound down with some music. Vitus attended a fateful Vencor board meeting in Rosslyn where the Gerousia voted to oust Prince George for his failings. Jinx, Henry and Rose went to Gallaudet University to find Joan. While Henry and Rose inspected Jinx’s graffiti handiwork, Jinx had a revelatory heart-to-heart with her clan elder, Joan. Zachary and George followed Joan and Zachary was permitted to witness the discussion between Joan and Jinx. George noted Rose and “Oscar" (Henry’s guise) as the pair comforted Jinx. The Georgetown coterie gathered once more at Vitus’ manor to bed for the day, but not before Henry noticed a murder of crows observing the manse. Henry found a quiet spot in Vitus’ garage to call and report to the Undercity. Vitus had his forces shoo away the crows: or have them shot if they would not leave, during the daytime. In the P.M., it was time for the Georgetown Elysium. Rose spoke with Karl Raeger of the S’eth Adar before the event and was told that his official services wouldn’t be necessary (and was encouraged to catch a “blood flu” along with many others of the Clan). Vitus spoke with his underworld ghoul, Paulie DiFranco, and put out a search for Zachary Sellz and his cohort, “DJ Benjammin” after learning their identities from Aaron Smith-Walter. Joan sent Theodore to bring the rescued girls to George Washington Hospital. Cedric went on ahead to Elysium. Just as Joan was about to lead Zachary and George out of the Malkavian library, she was attacked by a group of Tzimisce. They cornered her and attacked. Joan psychically yelled at Zachary to stay indoors as she fought her assailants. Joan was staked. Zachary and George stealthily left the basement, leaving Benjamin behind in the crypt. They crept behind the Tzimisce, but George was spotted. Zachary used his newfound power to trick two of the Tzimisce to open their minds to him. He then forced them into the Cobweb, temporarily driving them mad. George had his eyes fleshcrafted away, but he called upon his power to raise his generation, heal his eyes, boil the blood of the Ant-man Tzimisce and then drain him. On the other side of the river, Thaïs and Desirée prepared at Desirée’s penthouse. They left together for the Smithsonian National Zoological Park, passing by the hordes of anti-IMF/World Bank protesters in the streets of D.C. Desirée presented Thaïs to Prince George. While the old Prince was strange, he accepted Thaïs as a visitor to his Domain. Thaïs spoke with Aloysia about Carthage and ancient stories. Aloysia also told Thaïs what she knew about the “Abraham Incident” all in exchange for future favors to be specified later. Though Vitus had told his coterie to stick closely by him in the knowledge that things were going to get out-of-hand quickly, Jinx and Rose elected to drink some offered drug blood and bumble to the Panda enclosure to share a kiss. Vitus and Henry spoke with the Settite delegation. They had a friendly discussion and the Settites invited them both to come by the Church of Light in Anacostia. Nebasha and Marcel made their excuses and left quickly. Jordan interrupted the singing of the Daughters of Cacophony to challenge the Prince. Both the Prince and Jordan put up their Presence to sway the crowd in a display of power. Meanwhile, Jinx felt the mind of Mountbatton touch hers as the Sabbat Malkavian urged Jinx to leave before things escalated. Rose noticed movement in the bushes beyond and could see the glint of several green eyes staring at the pair. The Ventrue were successful in their cou: George was staked, the Toreador routed. But then all hell broke loose when the Sabbat launched their attack. Thaïs and Desirée escaped into the sewers. Vitus led Prentiss, Rose, Jinx and Henry in their fight against a group of Gangrel antitribu at the panda enclosure. Successful, as Vitus drank from the incapacitated foe, Jinx read the creature’s mind and saw the massive battle plans. This was no skirmish, but rather the center of a great war. The combined might of the Sword of Caine was bearing down upon the whole city and they appear to have won . . . at least for now. Explosions rocked the city as “terrorist” bombs destroyed the World Bank and IMF Headquarters. Sirens erupted throughout the District, though on the other side of town from the fateful decapitation of the Kindred leadership at the Smithsonian National Zoo. Thaïs and Desirée made their way through the sewers. Though the signal was terrible, Thaïs was able to get in touch with Cylus Pine for a moment before the government shut down all local cell towers. Using Cylus’ half-heard directions, Desirée and Thaïs made it through the winding filth-filled tunnels. The pair were startled by a white alligator (who had apparently escaped from the melee in the zoo above). Thaïs moved to scare it, not wanting to harm the majestic beast. A Nosferatu named Cheesehead came through a tunnel and used his Animalism on the creature and ghouled it. Cheesehead sent the alligator downstream to meet with “Margolis and the Shepherds.” Cheesehead explained that he was there to guide the two refugees to Cylus. The three got onto a wooden skiff and Cheeshead took them down the ever larger pipes into a great underground lake. He brought the two to the shore of a tiny island. Cylus Pine pulled up on a rowboat drawn by a ghoul. He informed Desirée and Thaïs about the terrible things afoot above ground and told them that they were directly underneath the Potomac River. Thaïs gave Cylus a rundown of what she saw in the Ventrue coup. Just at that, a ribbon of psychic energy shot through the cavern from the ceiling to the sewage below, cutting the small island in two. Cheesehead was killed instantly and Cylus was gravely wounded. Desirée and Thaïs both jumped to safety. In Gallaudet, George diablerized the ant-man (now known as Dr. Gavreau), shocking Zachary. Zachary unstaked Joan and the two retrieved Benjamin and some blood stores from the underground library as the two Tzimisce assailants were still stunned. Joan, Zachary, Benjamin and George were able just to get away as the two Tzimisce resumed their attack. The four crossed the bridge into Alexandria just as bombs were going off in D.C. and the psychic ribbon wall went up around the city. The four stopped at the Jameson Inn in Annandale. George said he needed to make some contacts and that he would be right back. Joan, Zachary and Benjamin took that as an opportunity to give an ever-more-erratic George the slip and to go to OTCAL. Meanwhile, Vitus had diablerlized “German,” one of the Gangrel antitribu assailants at the zoo. Three of Vitus’ commandos managed to break through the lines and as a “reward,” the conditioned soldiers were ghouled. Vitus then used his powers of Presence to compel his sire to come to him. Barnaby was furious, but given the situation, everyone moved on. Vitus, Barnaby, Prentiss, Jinx, Rose (as a wolf) and Henry, alongside the freshly-blooded ghouls Baron, Adébisi and Greenway escaped by scaling a wall and falling down a ravine/cliffside. A pack of compelled wolves awaited the escapees and attacked. The coterie made short work of them. Rose could see the place as familiar: beyond the thicket was the very clearing where they had been embraced. Rose ran (on all fours as a wolf) toward their old ramshackle townhouse in hopes of finding Thorne (their old dog). Sadly, they found only Thorne’s grave in a flowerbed. Crestfallen, Rose awaited the others to catch up. The group determined that they would need vehicles. The ghouls commandeered a van and a truck and the group took off. The highways were completely packed as they had never been at this time of night before. Street closures made the highways into a parking lot as the city was falling into hysteria over the “terrorist attack.” The ghouls wound the caravan through back streets and went to the most disused bridge between Alexandria and D.C.: Chain Bridge. But there, the Kindred saw the great ribbon psychic wall flowing above the Potomac River. Barnaby’s hand was destroyed when he tried to touch it. Also, Barnaby was unable to use his cell phone: all communications had been cut off in the area. Vitus, a landowner in the South, wrote a note requesting assistance. Henry sent it using a murder of crows. Thaïs and Desirée helped Cylus onto his boat and they went to an interchange for the women to exit the Undercity. Desirée and Thaïs came out of the sewer onto a scene of pandemonium following the “terrorist attack” in D.C. Cars crowded the highways. The two were on the bank of the Potomac River on the Virginia side with the bright pink/purple ribbon wall rippling in front of them. Thaïs violently stole a motorcycle and the pair rode to Elysium. Joan, Zachary and Benjamin met at OTCAL but soon realized that the whole place was compromised with George knowing about it. Joan suggested that she would stay behind at OTCAL to call on the aid of the other cultists to move artifacts. Zachary and Benjamin went to Club Euphonia in hopes of meeting up with Thaïs and Desirée. The two were not there, but the security ghoul Alexander led Zachary and Benjamin to a closet to lock them into until his mistress returned.

Thursday, December 8: Vitus, Prentiss, Rose, Barnaby, Jinx, Henry and three of Vitus’ newly-made ghouls waited at the ribbon wall for a message from the Alexandria Camarilla. Before it came, several members split off to speak to one another (Jinx tried to repair her relationship with her sire, Barnaby thanked Rose for their service, Vitus and Henry discussed Vitus’ diablerie and the possibility that the Tremere might not look so kindly upon it. Henry’s murder of crows returned to say that their message had been received and that some folks were coming. Vittorio arrived with Sampson and an armed vehicle with ghouls. He explained that there was now a “toll” tax of $3.3 million to enter the Domain of Alexandria and that all must submit to blood tests by the Tremere to remain citizens. Vitus and Henry hid, Prentiss refused to enter under those terms (not that Vittorio wanted her to spend her boon to enter), and only Barnaby took the deal. He offered to pay for his childe’s entry, but Vitus had hidden. Sampson told Rose that should what is left of the S’eth Adar need anything in the midst of their war, he would provide it: to just get in touch with him in “the old way” as phones were not operational. The Camarilla motorcade left and the group remained at the edge of the wall. Rose could sense the arrival of Gangrel. Instead of running, the coterie continued to jibber jabber for some reason and the Gangrel antitribu were able to set up an ambush and perimeter. The Sabbat first sent out a foray of badgers to attack. Jinx hid in a boathouse after making contact with the mind of the Malkavian antitribu Montbatton (who told her that he was coming with Sabbat reinforcements). Henry climbed up a tree and remained in Obfuscation. Two of the Gangrel broke the line and moved in to attack and test the defenses of the Camarilla refugees. Rose and Vitus made relatively short work of them and Rose drank the heart’s blood of the eldest of them. The Sabbat reinforcements arrived, including Tzimisce, horrid creatures and Mountbatton. Vitus put up his hands as though to call for some sort of parlay. Rose melded into the earth as Vitus went to speak with the forces of the Sabbat. At first, they seemed to laugh at him, but an thin middle-aged man stepped out of one of the armored SUVs to tell the others to stand down, for this one was “perfect.” He took Vitus with him and ordered the Sabbat forces to scour the land to find the rest and kill them. Rose took that opportunity to emerge from the earth and turn into a hawk. Tzimisce of the Sabbat gave chase, but Rose was able to escape. Henry, Jinx and Prentiss remained in obfuscation. Rose flew throughout the rest of the night, away from the city along the ribbon wall (which they determined was more like a “bubble” when zoomed out). Old Town Alexandria was completely abandoned when Thaïs and Desirée rode in on their stolen motorcycle: gone was the throng of nightly tourists amid the panic in the city. Ty and Des descended into Elysium and went through heightened security, led by the Tremere Alexi Petrunich. The pair requested a meeting with the Prince and were led by Seneschal Vittorio away from prying eyes. The pair met with the Prince, but didn’t seem to remember much from the meeting. Desirée suspected that their minds were wiped from the encounter. Jeremiah Banks was incited to rage when the Prince announced her potestas edictum in which all citizens were to submit to blood tests when entering Elysium and that all must give a draught of blood for the Tremere to maintain for “security purposes.” He left in a fit of pique and was followed out by Desirée, Thaïs, the Brujah and a few others. Jeremiah announced that there would be a meeting at Franklin’s Pub in two hours for anyone upset about the Prince’s edicts. Desirée and Thaïs went to H&H Ranch to shower and dress. Thaïs communed with Boxcar, the demon in her head. Boxcar told her that he would make her immune to Tremere blood magics (for the most part) if she would only do a little ritual for him and willingly give him access to her hand. Thaïs went to her front yard and complied, slicing her hand. Boxcar cajoled Thaïs to willingly give him her whole arm. When she did, he used it to create a demonic sigil on the ground. He told Thaïs that she was now immune to the Tremere’s tracking of her, but to exit the “bubble” (the psychic ribbon wall), she would need to sacrifice a small animal for him. She had her ghoul procure a cat to hold on to, but decided not to do it just yet. Instead, the pair went to the meeting of the Brujah and other malcontents at Franklin’s Pub in Fairfax City. Jeremiah gave a rousing speech, saying that the Prince had gone too far this time and something had to be done about it. Professor Peter Forsythe and Jason Li urged caution, but the majority agreed with Jeremiah. When he asked Thaïs for her support (in a way to undercut her sire’s misgivings), she said that she would rather die on her feet than cowering in “some bubble like a bitch.” Jeremiah agreed, saying he was no “Bubble Bitch.” Desirée urged caution but was talked over by Jeremiah who demanded immediate action: starting with refusing the order for blood by the crown. Thaïs challenged Jeremiah, but he reacted violently, knocking her into a wall. Later, Jeremiah was persuaded to go to Desirée’s club to talk. She Enraptured him using her Presence. He was more amenable to her point of view after that. Thaïs and Desirée were at last reunited with Benjamin and Zachary. The four had a talk about the events of the night. George stopped by the closed club, looking for Zachary, but Desirée put him off. Thaïs, Desirée, Benjamin and Zachary bed down for the day in the penthouse of Del Ray Tower, in the cloud stories above the chaos on the streets below. Thaïs had another dream of the fall of Troile, while Zachary had a dream about a health care worker on the run. Rose followed the call of the Beast and became a night predator, feasting upon the other birds of the night. While riding the Beast, the Beast managed to take over just as the sun was coming up. Rose (or, Rose’s Beast) made it into the safety of the floorboards below a farmhouse. And though Rose was lost, they were safe for the day. When Rose awoke the following night, they flew out from under the farmhouse into the night and kept flying until they found the Potomac River and followed it to Lovettsville, Virginia: one of the last known havens of Big Frieda. Rose found their friend, Frieda, also in the form of a bird of prey. The two share stories and warnings and the night air. Frieda offers Rose shelter for the next day and Rose stays throughout the night. That P.M., Zachary, Desirée, Benjamin and Thaïs awake in the relative safety of Desirée’s spacious penthouse atop Del Ray Tower and Club Euphonia. D.C. is under martial law amid the “terrorist attacks” and civil unrest. The Club is closed. The coterie discusses the sharing of Disciplines. Desirée gives fresh orders to her ghouls. Thaïs works to teach Zachary some powers of the blood. Zachary reaches out into the Cobweb to find his “brother” Damien and is wounded in the process. Zachary, Thaïs and Desirée discuss the powers of the blood and Zachary is worried about his relationship with Benjamin. Zachary drinks from Thaïs and gifts his blood to Desirée. Desirée slips into a dream state, remaining for hours. She paints a portrait of Zachary and then waits, only to be pulled back into space and to be burned by the sun. Gwenevieve Rossellini triangulated the location of the anomaly the Giovanni had detected. As she was attempting to head South towards it, she was waylaid by a riot and the appearance of the Tremere psychic ribbon wall/“Bubble.” Gwen turned around and returned to the Giovanni Embassy. H.B. Kershaw is hot on the trail of Henry, stopping at the Armandasanti Manor to find that it has been brutally attacked and vandalized. He finds no ghoul survivors, but finds evidence of a Sabbat incursion with the security tapes. He also collects prophetic journals from the Malkavian, Jinx. H.B. stays in his security van for the day and rises the next night to continue his search. By the time he returns to the Armandasanti Manor, he finds that it has been overtaken by the Sabbat and is now serving as some sort of base for their “holy warriors.” He manages (just) to escape a few sentries and finds his way back to the sewers to report in.

Friday, December 9: Rose stays with Big Frieda throughout the A.M. and beds down on Frieda’s farm for the day. Rose arises in Lovettsville, Virginia in the P.M. on Frieda’s farm and goes to “fish” (only to discover that fish blood is not very appetizing). Later, Rose goes with Frieda in her truck to the mountains on the West Virginia border. There, they go on foot as wolves to a cave surrounded by women and mountain lions. The pair goes inside of the cave to meet with “Nana.” Desirée finally wakes from her fugue in the A.M.  She is burned by the dream-state, but has gained some power. Desirée is inspired from a vision in her dream to paint, and so goes to her room of the penthouse as Zachary and Thaïs train their physical abilities. The coterie beds for the day in Desirée’s penthouse. The following P.M., Zachary wakes up starving and fantasizes about murdering his love, Benjamin. Resolved to do something about this state of affairs, Zachary asks Thaïs to teach him how to hunt. Benjamin stays behind in the penthouse. With the club closed (everything is closed with the national emergency), Zach and Ty travel to the Route One Corridor of Fairfax to try their luck at the down-on-their-luck. They run into a group of young men who see them as easy marks to mug . . . sadly for the men. Thaïs and Zachary went to H&H Ranch to look over Thaïs’ books that the professor had gotten for her. Thaïs spoke with Boxcar and was told about Hirut on Roosevelt Island. Zachary and Thaïs returned to Desirée’s tower where they had visions of a running Kindred (who turned out to be the Salubri, Asa). Des, Ty, Zach, and Ben and Normandin went to find Asa and picked him up before Agent 4 was able to apprehend him. Meanwhile, Desirée confers with her forces and meets with the three new soldiers Alexander brought in for her to inspect. Desirée uses her power of Presence and then ghouls the three and provides spaces for them in her tower. Gwenevieve sent out her spirits and studied the Bubble. Gwen plotted her course for the expedition and had Carlo gather forces for her. Gwen began her journey south with the Giovanni expedition. H.B. Kershaw reports to Mary Pine and the Nosferatu Operatives about his mission topside. He provides the Undercity with Jinx’s journal, security tapes of the Armandasanti Manor attack and further intel. He is given information about what the Clan knows from elsewhere topside. The Clan has determined to send H.B. under the Tremere barrier to check on their investments in Alexandria. He is left to rest for a time in his warren and spends a little time with his friends in the Undercity. The next night, H.B. sets off on his journey into the depths. His mission tied him to another Operative, “Bette.” She was to travel with him under the Tremere Barrier to get to Alexandria for her mission. All the while, the pair were to place communications booster devices in the pipes and caverns on their way.

Saturday, December 10: Rose listens to Nana’s stories inside the mountain lion cave and tells of her own harrowing journey. Nana reveals that she can take away the soul trapped inside Rose and can give her a power to understand spirits, though it will mark a transformation. Rose dies for the day in the cave surrounded by the Sisterhood. In the P.M. when Rose arises, she is still set on the “re-embrace,” and thus begins the process of purging Zeke from her psyche. Following her battle with Zeke, and ultimately comforting the abused inner-child, she is ready for her embrace into the Sisterhood. Gwenevive Rossellini gathered her Giovanni expeditionary force and travelled along the side of the Bubble. She had spent the night plotting a course, using her spirits to find the boundaries of the Bubble. Gwen passed through Fredericksburg, where she encountered a number of ghosts swirling about the place. Nonetheless, she stayed the day, but was attacked by a group of Lupines and awakened by her retinue. The Giovanni expedition escaped from Fredericksburg with the help of J. Edgar and a very lethargic Gwen. The ghouls travelled to Manassas and set up at a motel there. The following night, Gwen and her ghouls got provisions and set up some equipment. They then carefully made their way to the anomaly, a few miles outside of the town. H.B. Kershaw had been climbing through the deepest parts of the Undercity with his fellow Operative, Bette. The two discussed their lives and bonded as they placed communications devices. Deep in a crevass in the bedrock below the Potomac River, H.B. and Bette slumbered through the day. Zachary, Thaïs, Desirée, Benjamin and retinue returned to H&H Ranch with Asa. They prepare for a confrontation. Seneschal Vittorio arrived with his retinue and said (from the other side of the closed iron door), that he believed that Thaïs might be harboring someone on the Red List. Thaïs told him to fuck off, and he did. All waited for an attack that never came. All died for the day. Asa dreamed of Dianne being dissected by the Tremere on an operating table. Desirée dreamed of ancient Greece with the great Sculptor. Thaïs dreamed of digging through the sands of Carthage. The sands burned her and she awoke. Zachary dreamed of the Wall, he walked through and was burned, he appeared at the temple and awoke, throwing up blood. The following evening, Zachary, Thaïs, Desirée, Benjamin and Asa woke and spoke of their dreams and said their goodbyes. Thaïs spoke with Boxcar, giving him permission to overtake her arms and he led her through a demonic blood ritual to send Zachary, Asa (and Benjamin? as it turns out?) through the Wall. The three walk through a portal created by the blood, and arrive several days later inside the antechamber of the Temple. Confused by them not simply walking through, but disappearing instead, Thaïs and Desirée decide to round up their forces and head to Del Ray Tower.

Sunday, December 11: In the p.m., H.B. Kershaw and Bette wake from their slumber in the depths and begin their ascent into Alexandria on the other side of the Wall. They arrive at a grate below an underground storage facility in the mid-rail substation near Shirlington Metro in Arlington. Having accomplished their initial mission with the communications devices, they now head their separate ways on their own secondary missions. [NOTE: from this point on in the Chronicle, H.B. Kershaw is an NPC, with input from the player]  Thaïs and Desirée martial their best ghouls and prepare for a showdown. Desirée uses her Presence to Summon the Seneschal of the city, Vittorio Ghiribaldi. Vittorio is polite, yet chides Desirée for her flagrant use of Presence. He uses some sort of mind effect that Desirée catches, but makes a speedy exit, acting as though Des and Ty are not in as much trouble as they believe they might be. Emboldened and still seething over resentments, Desirée decides that the chaos of the city and the precarious political position will provide the perfect cover for the pair to enact some personal justice/petty vengeance for perceived slights (depending upon who you ask). They prepare a plan and after a day at the Tower, they set up in Fairfax at the suburban home of Desirée’s thinblood beneficiaries. Desirée had graciously invited the thinblooded women to live in her luxury Del Ray Tower Apartments a few nights before, so the place was empty and ready. Desirée, Thaïs and Des’ martial ghouls lay in wait, stakes in hand, and prepare for the right time to Summon their prey. Rose is in a spiritual coma in the Sisterhood cave in the Blue Ridge Mountains, doing battle with innermost demons and finding her true spiritual self. Gwenevieve arrives at the anomaly at the cornfield outside of Manassas (the Temple) in the a.m. She could perceive it in the Shadowlands, but could not see it with regular senses. The place was visible only to spirits and the Rossellini. She would spend the next few nights investigating the Temple. 

Monday, December 12: Gwenevieve studies the Temple in a cornfield near Manassas, while having the Giovanni expeditionary force gather resources and necessities to create a security perimeter. Rose is in a spiritual coma in the Sisterhood cave in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Desirée uses Presence to Summon Barnaby Wilcox. A struggle ensues, but Thaïs stakes him. Desirée gloats over Barnaby’s torpid body and then diablerizes him. [NOTE: from this point on in the Chronicle, Desirée and Thaïs are NPCs]

Tuesday, December 13: Gwenevieve continues her studies as her ghouls continue to fortify the farmstead and bring in books and materials. Rose continues her transformation in the Sisterhood cave.

Wednesday, December 14: Rose completes her physical and spiritual transformation into the Sisterhood and wakes in the caves in the mountains after midnight. Only Nana and one other Sister are still there. Rose speaks with Nana on the way forward and of the spirit world she will soon become a shepherd of. Rose is bid to return to her Sisterhood once a month, as all Sisters do. They travel the world to shepherd the spirits and find the slivers of the world to save. Rose hunts and beds down for the day. Rose wakes alone after sunset in the Sisterhood cave and sets off into the sky and flies all night. Gwenevieve continues her studies as her ghouls continue to fortify the farmstead and bring in books and materials.

Thursday, December 15: A few hours before sunrise, Rose lands at the waterfall cliffside in Shenandoah National Park where she had met her friends all of those years ago in her mortal life. She melds into the earth and awaits the pulsing of the spirits to guide her. In the earth, she is slowly rocked into the closest thing Rose has known to “sleep” since her embrace. The next night, she rises to find Lay Lines as she flies. She also senses something bright far away in the edge of her new senses. She follows this new sense through the night into the early morning. Gwenevieve continues her studies as her ghouls continue to fortify the farmstead and bring in books and materials.

Friday, December 16: Rose/Tala arrives at the vergence of the lay lines, and finds a spiritual object of great size and desends to find a woman sitting atop it. Gwenevive, studying the glyphs in the Shadowlands atop the Temple, saw Tala descend. They speak of visions, lay lines and the Temple.

Saturday, December 17: Rose/Tala and Gwenevieve continue their investigations at the Temple. They stay at the farmstead near the Temple over the day. The next night, they continue their investigations. Early in the evening, Asa, Benjamin and Zachary appear inside the antechamber of the Temple, not noticing any time passing between the moment they crossed the portal made in Thaïs’ ritual several nights before. Asa cuts his hand on the door and the three spill out to a bewildered Rose/Tala and Gwen. The new companions get to know one another (or at least to know the cover stories each give one another) and investigate the Temple. Zachary speaks with Joan in the Cobweb. She tells him that she has moved OTCAL to Clifton and that Cedric is still outside the Bubble in Georgetown. 

Sunday, December 18: Tala/Rose, Gwenevieve, Zachary, Asa and Benjamin continue their investigations of the Temple throughout the early hours of the morning until near sunrise. Tala/Rose and Gwen feed together and sleep in the Temple antechamber. Zachary, Benjamin and Asa stay in the farmhouse. None dream that day, for perhaps the first time in a long time. Tala enchants spirit candle and Zachary uses Spirit Touch on the Temple and sees a pretty man turning gray and the mechanism used to “lock” the inner door to the Temple. The group discusses the stakes and their immediate goals. They gather forces and head to Georgetown to set up an ambush for George and Number 4. On the way north in an Giovanni expedition armored SUV convoy, the Kindred halt after Zachary contacts Cedric in the Cobweb. Cedric agrees to help with George, but is more concerned with what Damien is doing at Roosevelt Island with the Lady in the Lake. The Giovanni caravan changes course and heads for the heart of D.C. They pass a security checkpoint (D.C. is still under martial law and a curfew after the “terrorist attack”) using Zachary’s Inner Image, yet are followed by Cainite pursuers. Rose/Tala can sense the Gangrel pack following on the rooftops of buildings above, while an armored car follows filled with the scent of angry vampires. Gwen orders J. Edgar to expend everything in the destruction of the Sabbat in the vehicle chasing them. It spins out and crashes. The Gangrel antitribu following above abruptly turn away and leave the Giovanni expedition to their own devices as they reach the edge of the Potomac. As the hour reaches midnight, the whiff of brimstone overwhelms the vampires’ senses. The ghouls are sent across the bridge in the vehicles back over to the other side of the Bubble to get to the island from the only footpath. The Kindred leap into the water to swim to the island where a cult is attempting to raise an ancient.

Monday, December 19: Hirut Rising at Roosevelt Island. Tala/Rose, Asa, Gwenevieve, Zachary and Benjamin pull themselves out of the Potomac onto the shores of Roosevelt Island to confront Hirut shortly after midnight. Rose/Tala sees Hirut having just killed one thinblood, moving on to her next victim: Allie Weathers. Allie is a teen Rose had “saved” a couple years ago. Rose releases her beast and launches herself at the ancient. While Hirut is draining Allie, Rose attacks and takes off her arm in the process. Hirut acts quickly, using the fingers of a severed, burned and withered hand to somehow cut through the Bubble and get to the other side. Rose then, filled with methuselah blood, disappears and reappears behind cultists one after another, bursting them into blood mist in fractions of seconds. The Malkavians and others skilled in Obfuscate duck away, but the rest of the cultists are destroyed. Damien Luther Adams had imprisoned Zachary in a mind prison, but Zachary is able to find his way out of it in the confusion. Zachary frees Jordan Bingham from Damien’s grasp, if not from his mind control. Damien, Montbatten, Jinx and the other Malkavians escape. Hirut as well as the “demon” parts (the Head with Jinx, the Hand with Hirut) also get away. The other kindred cultists are destroyed as blood mist by Rose/Tala. The team rescues an addled Cedric. Jinx gets away with head, but not before mind-melding with Rose, seeing everything that her ex knows about the Temple and the prophet. The ghouls reach the other side of the island, having had a fight of their own. Benjamin is okay, and had waited with the car. He makes his way across the footbridge. Tala tries to bring Benjamin with her, but misjudges her own power, ripping him in two (what might well be a mortal wound, if he were mortal . . .) Asa jumps into action, and brings Benjamin’s severed arm with him, and (in front of only Zachary), uses Obeah to heal him. Zachary gives Benjamin his blood. The team takes the Spirit of the Potomac to the causeway of Southwest, D.C. and walks to the Giovanni Embassy, where they die for the day. Carlo Giovanni is shocked at the arrival of at least two Camarilla refugees and other strays at the Embassy, and expects answers anon. That day, each of the investigators, including Benjamin, have dreams and nightmares. Asa, Rose and Gwen all have bloody aftereffects of their dreams, with sigils emblazoned in blood below where they slept. Zachary interprets these sigils: Asa has a sigil meaning “Of Light,” Rose has “Animus” or “Spirit,” and Gwen’s sigil had a meaning of “Entropy” or “Death.” Other smaller symbols had other meanings, but loosely translated to something about a passage through of energy or a “gateway.” Why or how these blood sigils are being made on these individuals is not known. The Kindred and Benjamin discuss their dreams. Benjamin blurts out a bit more than he should, just wanting to be involved. Zachary is far more circumspect. Following a discussion, Gwen is taken aside by one of her ghouls who informs her that the thinbloods had to be staked and put into the basement, as they were causing too much of a stir in the early evening before the others woke. Carlo was angry. Gwen tells her newfound coterie of sigil-bearers to wait in the funeral parlor as she went to meet up with Carlo. Gwen goes to the Giovanni gate into the Underworld, but Carlo meets her there and takes her through. Inside, the pair discuss the situation. Carlo informs her of the political strife that she has put him through in hopes that her mission is worth this trouble. 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 anon. 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 “guests” as Gwenevieve warns her guests 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, warning that they had word that the Giovanni might be harboring Camarilla heretics in their embassy. Carlo ensured him that he was not. The Bishop “invites”/orders Gwen and Carlo to the Sabbat’s Grand Ball to take place on Saturday/Sunday December 24/25 [in a mockery of Christmas] in celebration of the glorious victory over the blasphemers and apostates of the Camarilla. He speaks in Italian to Gwen and Carlo. 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 the Clan 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.