The Chronicles of San Corita

The Kindred citizens of San Cortia, now few enough to count on two hands, are faced by a trio of powerful elders from varied backgrounds; Hadria Shanz - a Sabbat Bishop of sorts, Simeon - Settite muscle, and Gerrod Knighton - A Nosferatu of proclaimed Camarilla allegiance. Speaking to Marwood, Knighton informs him that he is going to take over this city in the name of a grand experiment. Marwood has one week to close his affairs and vacate the city, where as the other refugees are not so lucky, the trio demands that all other refugees be out of the city by the end of the following eve.

In short time, Marwood locates, with the help of Perrin and an old contact - Sgt. William Marshall - a temporary haven for his Kindred. A cave in the national park to the north is relatively unknown, well protected and deep in Lupine country. Once there, the coterie has the chance to reunite with friends such as Folke, Herrick, and others. Fug never arrives at the haven, no one is quite sure where he is gone, but the last thing they remember is him being forlorn about Quinn's absence. Marwood, also, is not present; neither is Centurion. But in short time (a night or two) the underground haven is visited by Marwood. He brings with him a new guest: Emerson Bridges, who claims to be in the employ of someone who's title "starts with 'J' and ends with 'usticar' and I'm not talkin' Johnny come Lusticar either, Baby!"

Emerson fills the refugees in on the background of Gerrod Knighton. Turns out, as if it couldn't be assumed, that Gerrod has been run out of a number of cities for trying to insight revolt in an attempt to gain power. He has been known to discord the masquerade in order to get his way on multiple occasions. It seems that he is always talking about the "New Camarilla," but as of yet, no-one is quite sure what he is really working toward. It would appear that Emerson has been following Knighton for some time now, waiting for him to get into a position of true reprehension. However, Emerson seems to have very little information on either Hadria Shanz or Simeon. Finally, after a brief, yet informative conversation, Emerson and Marwood depart, Marwood leaves them with instructions on how to get in touch with him. He has taken haven in the hills, or so he says, and an unassuming mailbox is his message relay.

Fletcher and Zander decide that they need to check in at the office before admitting that they have truly been banished, so they load up the car and head into the city. Fletcher soon gets the feeling that he's being followed and realizes that not only are there black helicopters flying through the sky, but also, they are in fact being followed. A police car pulls them over and asks their business in the city, Fletcher and Zander pass it all off and they head in on their way, the whole time still feeling like they are being watched. As Fletcher is driving to his offices he finds himself occasionally drifting away from his route, traveling still toward the office, but in a less direct path. It's almost as if something is keeping him from entering certain areas of the city. Finally, they make a quick stop off at Nightstalker Investigations and then head out to Zander's house. On the way, though, Fletcher spots a car following him very intently. It passes him aggressively and slows down. Keen eyed, Fletcher notices a case of Dynamite in the back of the old beat up vehicle and naturally stops behind it.

An old friend of Persia, Magnus Ver Magnussen jumps out, again in his filthy coat and greasy jeans and walks to the driver's window of the car before Fletcher has a chance to get out. He mutters to Fletcher, almost under his breath, "You got a package in the mail." As he turns and leaves he looks back over his shoulder and says, "I wouldn't come back if I were you..." So they head out of the city to where Marwood's mailbox is supposed to be, which it is. There they find a large manilla envelope.

Enclosed in the envelope is a single piece of paper with instructions to meet someone who "blinds even the night and devours those that devour" out on Bell Island. As most messages of this type are, this is one also is vague and cryptic, but they head out none the less. Bell Island is the home of both a shut down docking and warehouse district, and a community of dilapidated old Hollywood type mansions. Not knowing at all where to go, they start in the warehouse district, where else could you find an "eater of souls" such as described.

The gang; Fletcher, Zander, Elspeth and Persia take to foot and starts to walk the warehouse district. By the docks and warehouses, Zander takes it upon him self to offer their meager description to a pack of wharf rats. Unfortunately, like most rats, they were more preoccupied by survival and idiocy to be of any real help. In the meantime, a beat up station wagon pulls up, almost blindingly bright headlights shine on the coterie. Exiting from the car, a very stylized Catholic Hunter steps out, his silver heeled boots ringing clear on the pavement. He questions the coterie, eyeing them suspiciously and as he makes his thoughts clear, combat slowly erupts. As he dives back into his car, he pulls the tarp off the roof, uncovering two very large floodlights. There is the sound of a generator starting up and the lights start flickering to life. Fortunately Fletcher shoots the lights out before they have a chance to completely light up, but as the second one blows, they get a hint of what could have come as they get a sunlight sensation from it's cast.

The Kindred approach the car with the hunter holed up. They get close until he pulls his gun on them and the dangling cross from the stock of his pistol drives them back a bit. None of the group feel that they can move even a step further forward, and the hunter is obviously surrounded. In a Mexican Standoff of sorts, they make an arrangement: the hunter leaves them alone for now and they supply him with information of another den of Vampires. They tell him of the Underground Moving Company and send him off to rid them of some enemies.

With the Hunter on his way to rout the evil of the wharf, a man approaches the more relaxed party. He is about as black as any man any of the four of them have seen. He instructs them to follow him to the hills, where the mansions are. Accepting that he is the man that "blinds even the night," they follow. He enters an old mansion and turns to them, introducing himself as Mazal Rishon. He congratulates them on their handling of the hunter. Zander asks how he is involved in all of this. He explains that he has been brought in per Centurion's request to help recover and rebuild the city, that he, Centurion and Prince Marwood are working very hard to restore what has been lost and that they are in need of more help. At this time he presents them with a Rand McNally® road atlas with roads highlighted and cities circled. "Time to go on tour." he says.

The road to Atlanta looks like a safe enough trip, it's not a long way, and it's pretty open country. Stuffed in an SUV, Fletcher, Zander, Elspeth, Jon, and Persia set off for the first stop. Zander realizes a ways down the road that he is hungry so they start to keep their eyes open for hitchhikers. An hour or so into the trip they spy a hitcher walking along the road. He is a large man wearing a heavy flannel shirt and carrying a large duffel. Zander obfuscates and rides bitch in the front seat, giving the stranger the front seat.

It all seems to be going all right until Zander finally takes a large bite out of the stranger's leg. And this is the point that things go poorly. To make a long story short, the stranger begins growing and shifting to his crinos form, reaching in his bag for the claive he was carrying. The party fights to contain him, Elspeth trying to disarm him, Zander trying to heat him, Jon trying to immobilize him. When the fight explodes onto the highway, rather than run, Jon, Elspeth and Zander continue to try to take the Lupine down. Elspeth receives a near fatal blow as a claive cuts her nearly in half, Jon as well. The Lupine, content to take his life and run heads off down the hill into the woods, but Zander has to follow. When the Lupine realizes he stops and looks at Zander, Zander looks back. A strange moment of clarity reaches both. Just as they are to turn away and head off their separate directions, Persia shoots at the Lupine from the street.

He reaches into his boot and pulls out a huge hunting knife and hurls it at the SUV, slashing not only a tire, but damaging the transmission. Zander, refocusing his rage, heads to the SUV, while the Lupine turns and runs off into the woods. Back on the road, still dealing with a very powerful frenzy, Zander flips the trashed SUV down the hill. Fletcher calls AAA.

An hour later they have a tow truck pulling the remains of the SUV to the next town; Jon and Elspeth stowed in the light-proof boxes in the back. The next night, Zander and Fletcher go out to buy a new vehicle. Directed to the nearest used car dealership where they find the most "bitchin' van" they've seen since the early 80's: jet-black, porthole windows, 8 captain's chairs, and a mural with half naked woman on the side. And it is this van that takes them on the rest of their tour.

The biggest flaw in their plans is that the road atlas only tells them where to go. There are no clues at all as to who to find and convince to help. This finally becomes a realization when they enter the city limits of Atlanta and don't know where exactly to go. Fortunately a trio of motorcycles hunts them down and stops them by shooting out their tire. The riders inform them that they are the Scourge of Atlanta and will escort the van to the Prince. The trio is cold and a bit rude, to the point of not even helping change the tire, but they do as they promise. They plead their case to the Prince, telling him that they are in search of assistance from a hero of some sort, but have no idea who it may be. He seems to recognize the name Mazal Rishon, but is not very forthcoming. He also can't assume who they may be here to pick up. But, late as it is, he offers them a place in a hotel, informing them that they may stay for three days at most, as Atlanta is overpopulated at present. They take off to the hotel, but not until after Zander takes his revenge by slashing the back tire of one of the motorcycles. A proud moment for him.

The hotel is nice, but they can only spare two rooms, so the coterie splits up boy/girl. The next night they spend driving around the city, looking for answers or clues. Nothing seems to come of their attempts to find a so-called hero. At one point, however, Elspeth says that they are being followed by large metal birds, but no-one else can figure out what she's talking about. They discount her ravings again and go back to their fruitless search. Nearing the end of the night, they return to the hotel to find that they have been checked out of their hotel, bills unpaid. Fletcher pulls the Nightstalker Investigations corporate card and slides it to the clerk. After running the numbers, the clerk slides the card back, rejected. After causing a diversion, the group is able to slink out of the hotel and spend one of many uncomfortable nights in the van.

The next evening, they head back to the Prince to bitch. It turns out that he had nothing to do with the hotel problems, but after incessant questioning and badgering, he realizes that it may be the work of someone named Bridget "KilRaven." She is a known hacker and menace to most societies with malicious meddling in the electronic affairs of other. He admits that the last time Atlanta was under threat of attack, "KilRaven" and Mazal Rishon worked together to undermine the effort and push the threat out of the city. When asked why neither are still around, he offers the fact that they are both a bit wild and unpredictable, and though very efficient at their work, are dangerous to have in a civil city. In fact, it has been rumored that Mazal Rishon will occasionally undermine a peacetime city so that his services are in need once again. But all the suspicions aside, "KilRaven" is supposed to be hiding out in the foothills around Atlanta, banished but still clinging to her home city.

With only a little more direction than they had the day before, the coterie heads up to the hills. On the way though, as they are discussing where to start looking, Elspeth notices the mini-hellicopters again, and this time, she's not the only one. As the coterie tries to determine who and how, Fletcher starts calling back to the back of the van with a nervous tone in his voice. As they all look back to him, he is no longer holding the steering wheel. "So the van has great alignment." Zander only says this seconds before the van takes a perfect turn onto an exit. They let the van drive itself up into the foothills and it comes to a gentle stop at the door of an old cabin shadowed by a frightfully large radio antenna and satellite dish.

A dark haired, woman exits the cabin, carrying a heavy rifle and waits for the coterie on the front step. Upon closer inspection, they realize that she is wearing a high-tech prison collar of some sort. She explains that she is given a short range around the cabin in which to hunt, and to leave that would cause the collar to blow up and decapitate her. She tells them that she wouldn't mind helping them, but there's no way she can leave the cabin safely. She's never even attempted to remove the collar, even with all her advanced computing power, because she really doesn't want to fail.

They return to Prince Damasus who offers them the release key, only with a favor in return. When they return to their city they are to look into the untimely loss of the prince's childe, Maximilliann Silver (Chapter 4). Agreeing quickly, ready to get on their way, they take the remote key and head back into the hills. Upon arrival, however, they discover a jeep, the engine still warm, parked in the driveway. In the cabin they finally witness the true computing power that "KilRaven" has, finding servers and computing stations set up in a fantastically neat and orderly fashion. Struck in awe, they hear the sounds of movement outside, behind the cabin. There they find a gang of attackers, they seem to be looking for "KilRaven" themselves. A fight breaks out and they are disposed of with marginal work, only one escaping into the woods. Zander takes chase with the others close behind. The escapee runs into the woods to find two more of his buddies. They have cornered "KilRaven" in that she is not backing off from them anymore, but they do seem to be shot up a bit. She is threatening them with her rifle still. By the expression of dread fear on her face, it is obvious that she is at the end of her leash. Zander makes short work of the wounded attackers and they free "KilRaven." Almost more out of gratitude than anything else, "KilRaven" agrees to help.

She has to tie up some loose ends in Atlanta, but can make her own way to San Cortia. Parting company, the coterie heads on its way to the next destination: Paris, Texas.

Comedic Conclusion: On the way out of Atlanta, Fletcher accidentally hits a deer with the van. Persia, being incredibly hungry at the time, leaps out of the van and drains the deer on the street. Not only does she drain the dear, but licks up all the blood off the street. I determined that she gained one "gravel point" from the encounter.

After a small layover in Meridian, Mississippi, the troupe is well on their way once again. Arriving in Paris, Texas, they find nothing they would ever have expected: nothing. In fact, were it not for Fletcher's keen eyes, they may have driven right through it and never noticed. They soon learn that Paris is little more than a crossroads. After getting some rooms at a motel, they scout the main strip: a town hall, a diner and the motel. The next evening begins the search for Kindred in this "city." They run into a number of interesting characters that intrigue, annoy, and entertain them all on different levels. Dept. Hank Marcusson is the night patrol officer, they meet him one night after getting pulled over for suspicious behavior: they are awake. It turns out to be a bonus, after a good long conversation they learn who the more prominent people after hours are, as most of the town goes to bed at sundown. They also manage to get two large boxes of 3M Sticky Notes™, but that's another story.

Billy Bob spends every night in his driveway, sitting in a lawn chair with his dog next to him. There's no real reason why. He works all day out of his garage as an autobody specialist and at night he sits in the driveway and watches the night go by. It just so turns out that the coterie decide to get some modifications done to the van and they hire him to do it the following night. As far as being kindred though, he turns out to be a dead end.

Dave is the town's bum. His face is so sooted that it is pretty much his only facial feature. He also carries with him a scent that can be smelled through the rolled up windows of the van, as Fletcher realizes all to much with his heightened senses and acute smell. Upon asking Dave some probing questions, however, he seems to have all the right answers: he knows where San Cortia is, he has heard of the problems, he recognizes the name Rishon, and he seems more than willing to go with them and help. Things get strange, however, when Fletcher offers him a business card (as he does to everyone he meets) and Dave refuses it, holding up one of his own. Realizing that this has gone from strange to just plain scary, even for Vampires, they make like the wind and get out of there as fast as possible.

Eventually, after talking to enough people and gathering enough information, they determine that there's "The Old Homestead" on the edge of town. They head out there but find it deserted, to a point. Fletcher and Zander discover a secret door in the basement of the main house that seems to be made of heavy, thick steel and be on a pneumatic locking and hinging system. Zander, bound to get through the door, spends unbelievable volumes of blood and muscles the door off of it's hinges, destroying the door, the frame and the pneumatics in the process. Under the house they find a haven of sorts but still no Kindred. For safety and security in investigation, they decide to leave Zander down in the haven and wait for the owner's return while the rest of them return to town and sleep out the day in the motel. At that everyone but Zander piles into the van and heads back to town while Zander finds a safe place to crash and hopes that whoever owns the place isn't too big or upset over his door.

Of course, the door being a big clue, no one shows up that night or the next day. The next evening, Zander gives up and heads out to the surface again to wait for the group to return. Upon walking out into the open land around the house shots ring out and Zander quickly realizes that he's being shot at from the roof. The rest of the coterie, coming up the drive, also hears the shots and races to the "rescue." A quick strategic regroup, and Zander is diving off the roof in a tackle with the sniper, a Kindred named Donnelly. Fletcher, an investigator to the very end, confronts Donnelly, discovering that he knew Folke years ago. He says he might be willing to help them back in San Cortia, but will need another night to think about it. Since Fletcher is waiting the final modifications to the van so they agree to return the next night.

The coterie, everyone included this time, head back into town. While at Billy Bob's, Elspeth heads out hunting and unfortunately, accidentally kills a thirteen year old boy. Sometimes being out of your element leads people to do some of the strangest things. This doesn't change when you're dead. She takes the body back to Fletcher and Zander, assuming that they would have a good idea on how to cover it up. However, tying the body to a propane tank and then shooting the tank may not have been the best plan. The guys spend pretty much the rest of the night cleaning up themselves and the back of the Dairy Queen.

The next night, the modifications are done, they've met their contact and their tired of the one horse town. It's time to wrap it all up and head out. They all pile in the van and drive out to Donnelly's ranch. There the meet with him and after a little questioning on his part, he does agree to head over to San Cortia and lend a hand. It would seem, though, that he does have a little business left here. As they are finalizing the details, a posse for lack of a better term drives up. They have always been suspicious of the man that lives in the broken down ranch on the hill, and the gunshots last night were enough provocation to do something about it tonight. Twenty or so guys jump out of their beat up pickup trucks and head to the house. Persia notices them and gives everyone in the house a heads up. A ruthless gunfight ensues with a notable result. Elspeth, the forefront of aggression races out to attack the posse and ends up eating more lead than even an ancient kindred like her self should be able to handle. Injured and ravenous, but in deadly danger, she spends her last blood point to Earthmeld. When the smoke clears and the posse is run off, the coterie has to dig up Elspeth before they head out to the next location.

Oh yeah, and for reasons beyond her control, Persia buys the ranch from Donnelly for one dollar.

A brief stop off in Dallas leads to little adventure, but does bestow upon the coterie a boon. In exchange for some blood to awaken Elspeth, they give the prince of Dallas the chance to call in a favor at his leisure. Another short layover in Memphis leads to nothing but a more crowded van as they pick up a pile of hippies as future ghouls, blood dolls, and slaves. At the very least, it's good for some additional comic relief.

Once on their way again, they head on the way to Dam #49, whatever that is. They leave the interstate, they leave the highway, they leave the pavement, but they are following the directions and signs given them. Finally, they pull up to a reservoir dam, the road continues across, but it's pretty narrow for the van. They walk en masse to a small gate house in the middle of the dam. As they get closer, they can see that there's a man standing at the center of the dam, just outside the gatehouse. The man is black as night and twice as threatening. They quickly learn from him that he is Mazal's brother, Areeb Rishon. They were brothers before death and were embraced together. While his brother is a strategist, he is simply hired muscle, leaving the damn only when contracted to do so.

He asks only one thing for them to convince him to go to San Cortia, they must fight him. Elspeth, volunteer first, not aware of the additional circumstances. Upon agreeing to the fight, Areeb enters the gatehouse and turns some massive wheels. Water starts flowing, a lot of water. He has opened up the flood gates to let additional water through the dam into the runoff stream. When the water gets going a bit, he motions to the stream and jumps down, Elspeth following. The fight is one of strength and cunning, no weapons and no disciplines other than those that are automatic (Fortitude and Potence). Elspeth, while a sturdy fighter, is more used to using her Wolves Claws, and seems to be ill at ease without them. She is not taken down quickly, but at the same time, Areeb seamed little worn by her. It is around the time that she backs out that there begin to appear on the crest of the river valley the headlights of cars, shinning down into the gorge.

A crowd, an audience actually, builds around the fight, drawn in by the rising water (Areeb has enough fights down here to have a following, why do you think there are no disciplines or weapons allowed). A music starts pumping out of the flood warning loudspeakers, Zander jumps into the water, a native to this habitat. As the fans cheer, as if this were some trumped up pro-wrestling match, Zander and Areeb struggle for supremacy, all the while the water tries to wash them down stream. Eventually it all comes down the the bigger rocks and Zander, native to the water, webbed feet and clawed toes, just seems to hold on a little better than Areeb and finally ends up dragging Areeb out of the water, claiming victory.

Strangely, Areeb seems to recover quickly and he congratulates Zander and Elspeth for being so agreeable to combat. As the onlookers exchange money and the crowd begins to disperse, Areeb tells them happily that he will help them in their plight, he is welcome to lend his fist to his brother's fight once again. They quickly load up the van and take Areeb out to the airport to send him on his way to San Cortia. Then it's on the road again, this time headed toward Pennsylvania.

In Bethel Park, tired of the run around the found in other cities, the immediately go to a bar that looks like it might have the right clientele. And if it doesn't, no one seems too concerned about that at the moment, it's been a long trip. They decide that they are in the right city and that, at least for the night, maybe the person they are looking for can come to them. In the bar, Fletcher and Elspeth notice that one of the patrons has a frosted glass. Not that this is unusual, but it also doesn't thaw when he grabs the glass. Enter Kennedy, Bethel Park's resident mad man, or at least mad man in training. He catches them staring at him and approaches them. A short conversation leads all five of them to realize they are all part of the same "underground" organization. Realizing that they are new to the city, Kennedy, calling himself Grinder at this time, invites them to present themselves. Finally, the coterie is being welcomed into a location, no more hunting down people; at long last, one lands in their lap.

Unfortunately things can't quite possibly be that easy. Kennedy takes them to present themsleves to his sire, not the Prince. So they end up meeting the ilustrious Dr. Sigmond Freud; or so he believes himself to be. Each member of the coterie, at this point, gets to have their own little psycho-analisys and answer the question "How do you feel about your mother?" Eventually, they do get back on track and meet with the Prince, a sultry, sexy Kindred by the name of Vylette. After hearing their plight, she can only assume the hero would be Dr. Freud. She asks them to return the following night for a final decision, she is, after Kennedy, one of the most helpful and interested people they have dealt with.

The last evening in Bethel Park is quick and painless. They head back out to the Prince's mannor where they pick up "The Doc" as they refer to him from this point onward. As they are preparing to head out, Vylette takes Persia aside and comments on her clothes, torn jeans and a loose fitting shirt. She says that her clothes are not becoming her and if she intends to get anywhere in the world, alive or dead, she should havea little more self respect and hold herself in a higher light. Persia takes this seriously and sees Vylette as a potential role model. She makes sure to get a mailing address for her for later nights. Additionally, one last thing before leaving, Persia stops at a convenience store and picks up a post card to mail to Marwood, telling them that everything is going well to date.

They head out of Bethel Park with the end of their mission in sight and an ever crowding van, now carrying 10 bodies in various states of life.

In the Grand scheme of things, the road's been pretty good to the troupe. There have been some scuffles and disagreements during their stops, but with the exception of their encounter with the Lupine, the road itself hasn't been that hazardous. Along the night road, they spot another van on the side of the road, a large custom van like their own (only without the "art"). Seeing the obvious coincidence in this, they stop and investigate. Fletcher and Zander determine that there were four occupants but no sign is left of them. Whoever hit the van left no witnesses, survivors or clues. Fletcher and Zander, determined to figure out what happened, head off into the woods, leaving the rest behind. An hour later, and after a lot of genuine concern on the part of the rest of the coterie, they return with no new information.