Crafting Chronicles, part 1

So, I'm going to try my hand at something.  I'm going to keep a chronicle of a Vampires: The Masquerade
game I'm running this summer.  I'm going to basically give you, the reader, a story-like retelling of
the adventures of the group of young vampires (the players, obviously).  But first, character
introductions.  If you want a term defined or a small glossery made up, just let me know and I'll edit
this to include the new info.  This is mainly to test the waters on this style of post and polish up my
creative writing skills.

Name (Clan)
Short Bio

Vance Archer (Malkavian)
Vance was a pianist before his Embracing.  During his lifetime, he's accrued a small share of wealth,
but is well known throughout the state for his eccentric playing style, yet enjoyable songs.  He is the
Math Rock of the wandering classical musician market.  He made his stay up in Duluth, but after his
turn, strange voices started to echo throughout his head.  Some of them told him utter nonsense, while
others offered grave insights.  One voice rang loudest, and that's when he began his cross-state trip to
Minneapolis, to find out why this voice beckons.


Shadow (Gangrel)
Shadow still clings to parts of his former self.  A former Mixed Martial Artist before his Embraced, he
shed his real name, in favor of his nickname.  After a fairly lucrative career, he has "retired" to
Minneapolis to start his own gym.  Of course, the day to day operations of the gym are run by his Ghoul,
Bartholomew, while he trains some of the more promising students at night.  He needs to be wary though,
the Camerilla have eyes and ears everywhere, and one slip up could mean Final Death.


Aria (Assimite)
[Note: Character has no defining characteristics as of yet, hope to fix in future]



The First Night

A messenger arrives at the doorsteps of the 3 newest Kindred in Minneapolis.  Each one gaudy and
grotesque.  Their message is the same: Meet at Elysium tonight.  The Science Museum.  1 o'clock.  Sharp.
 They then disappear as abruptly as they arrived.  Shadow, who was in the midst of setting up his new
gym, tells Bartholomew "Alright, you hold the place down, I guess I have somewhere I need to be".  The
Ghoul is only happy to oblige.  Shadow hops into his Hummer and heads off towards downtown.  "This had
better be important", he mumbles to himself.

A quarter mile away, Vance has just recieved his summons and is only too happy to make the trip. The
voices were calm for once while the messenger delivered the memo.  They spoke up though, once he was on
his way.  "Elysium?  You know what that means!" cackled one sadistic voice, "That's where all the stuffy
higher-ups are going to sit around and stare.  Right. Through. Your. Head."  A softer voice replied
"Just go, nothing can be worse than this twice-damned form".  Grinning and not letting these get the
best of him, he merrily strolled downtown.

Aria coldly closed the door on the messenger as he left.  She sighed and went to her room.  "So much for
going unnoticed" she though to herself.  "God, the Camerilla must have eyes and ears everywhere".  She
considers ignoring the summons, but the mere thought of blowing off such a ominous request sent shivers
down her frigid body.  Reluctantly she grabs her coat and scarf and heads out into the cold, January
night.  She turns the key in the ignition and mutters "Better get this over with".

Shadow was the first to arrive at a quarter to one.  He parked his monsterous vehicle, but stayed
inside.  "I think I'll just watch for now"  Five minutes later, Aria pulls in across the lot and Vance
is seen ambling towards the front door.  "Huh" Shadow thinks, trying to piece out what exactly is going
on.  Vance tries the front door, to find it locked.  Footsteps in the snow reveal a path that leads to
the side employee entrance.  Following them, he is approached by Aria.  "Summoned too, huh!" the
excitable Vance exclaimed.  "Wonder what's going on?"  His words were met with cold silence.  The path
takes them around a corner, where they spot a security guard.

From his vantage point, Shadow watches closely as the two strangers stare at the mortal.  The guard
is sitting there, glazed look in his eye, when suddenly Aria leaps forward and lands a vicious blow to
the head.  The man crumples to the ground without a sound.  "Pretty impressive there Miss..." Vance
proclaims.  No sooner than the last word leaves his mouth, the door swings violently open, and a tall,
striking figure opens the door.  He looks at the two outside and jerkily motions them inside, obviously
frustrated that his Dominated guard was so recklessly assaulted.  He then points to Shadow in his tank
and flicks his head towards the door, signaling that he too, was beckoned.

"Sit here, and wait to be summoned" the tall man orders, "The Prince will see you shortly".  They aren't
made to wait long.  Within ten minutes, a twisted figure tells them that the Prince is ready for them.
With a cackle, he hobbles off.

Uneasily, the trio wanders over to where they were directed.  "Greeting young Childer.  Welcome to my
City."  The voice carries a sickly sweet tone to it.  Like a pot of honey tainted with arsonic.  "I am
the Prince of this fair city.  I hope you do not tarnish it's beauty with by misbehaving."  The man cut
an excellent figure.  He was tall, fair skinned, and carried the look of a celebrity, even in undeath.
Though he looked like your run-of-the-mill airheaded celeb, he walked with a certain confidence.  One
that said "cross me, and I WILL end you".  He was clearly, not a man to fuck with.

"Now, tradition is important to those of us in the Camerilla.  If you wish to remain in Minneapolis, you
must adhere to the laws.  But first, you need to introduce yourself to me and ask to stay here.  As this
is my domain, I posess the power to deny your residence, so play along boys and girl."

Shadow steps forward first and says woodenly "Prince, my name is Shadow, I request permission to stay in
Minneapolis".  "Permission granted.  You may think you're tough because of your past life, but that
don't mean squat here", the Prince replies in the same lilting tone.

Aria approaches and says cooly "My name is Aria, I ask for permission to stay".
"Granted"

Finally Vance steps forward and does his best to imitate the flowing speech of the Prince "Dear Prince
of Minneapolis, head of the Camerilla, I humbly request your permission to stay in your domain".

"Also granted"  The Prince pulls Vance close "I know what you are, if you cause any... "special" kind of
trouble, I'll have the Sheriff deliver your Final Death is the most painful way possible.  Do I make
myself clear?"

"Crystal" was the reply.

"Good.  Now, first and foremost... Welcome to Minneapolis.  As part of the Camerilla, I expect you to
follow a few laws.  First and foremost, you keep information of the Kindred away from the Humans.  This
is the Masquerade.  The Kine must never know we exist.  Breaking the Masquerade results in death.  I
mean this.  I will call a hunt on your head, and you will be murdered.  Do I make myself clear?"

The three fledglings nod in unison.

"Next, I am the ultimate authority.  Everything I say should override what anyone else in this city
says.  This includes your Sire, if present, or the Primogen.  The Primogen is the council made of the
oldest Kindred of each clan, sans the Tremere.  They are high up in the chain of command, so be on your
best behavior.

Third, there is NO violence in Elysium.  I'm sure you're currently feeling uneasy here.  You can feel
the presence of all the elder Kindred.  Should you raise your hand in violence, they will swarm upon you
and leave you for daybreak... And I do hate having piles of ashes out on the street.  Is quite untidy.

Now, with all that said, I have a task for you three.  I'm sure you're sufficiently anxious to be out
of here, so I'll be quick.  There are some Sabbat running rampant out near the Mall of America.  Nothing
serious, just a few thugs ravaging some parked cars and low tier vandalism.  I want you to dispatch of
them before the authroities arrive.  You are dismissed."

Vance quietly queries "Uh, what's a Sabbat... sir.  Eheh."

"The Sabbat are another group of Vampires.  One who feel they don't need the Camerilla or the
Masquerade.  They don't have much of a foothold in Minneapolis, but I hear they're quite the problem in
Iowa.  Anyways, they run roughshod all over the place, causing chaos and destruction, and with each
night the Kine come closer to discovering the existance of Vampires.  I WILL NOT stand for their
reckless behavior in my fair city.  You will dispatch them immediately.  Now go!"

"May as well hop in," Shadow mumbles.  "A single vehicle is less suspicous than a convoy".  Aria and
Vance pile into the car as he starts the ignition.  "Hold on", he warns as he throws the car into drive
and peels out of the parking lot.

Pulling off on a nearby exit ramp, they spot the renegades in the parking lot.  Under the dim lights,
they can make out the figures of 4 men assaulting a car with baseball bats.  "So what's the plan
fellas?"  Vance asks.  "Should we just run in and put a bullet in their collective skulls?  Then stake
'em and put them atop a billboard for the sun to roast 'em?"

"I could go down and try to seduce them" Aria plainly states.

"There's 4 of them, and 1 of you.  That'd end terribly.  I'll just walk down there and intimidate the
piss out of them." Shadow retorts.

"4 of them, remember?  Hehee" replies Vance.

"I can soak a bullet better than you fragile bags.  Plus, red eyes are a good way to spook people.  oh,
and GODDAMN CLAWS"

The bickering continues about the best possible route.  Intimidation, seduction, stealth, straight up
confrontation, when suddenly Shadow just started walking briskly towards the delinquents.  Eyes now
glowing red, and claws bared, he makes his way through the snow covered asphault, with Aria and Vance
trying to keep up.

"Hey, what gives?" Aria protests quietly
"I took action.  Bickering got us nowhere, so I did something about it" Shadow grumbles in reply.

"Well, looky here.  A couple of Cammy Welps have come to ruin our fun" one thug proclaims.
"Or maybe, they're just lost, heh heh heh"

Shadow silently replies by brandishing his claws as both Aria and Vance draw their handguns.

"Oh, so we're going to do this the hard way?  Well, that's fine by us!  We prefer it this way!" One of
the Sabbat goons roars.

Two of the Sabbat discard their baseball bats and draw guns of their own.  Both sides are trading fire
as two of the thugs rush the group with their bats.  They're met swiftly by a roaring Shadow, who begins
to tear into undead flesh with his primal claws.  A few stray bullets ping off of Shadow, but show no
signs of doing anything other than pissing him off.  Two Sabbat fall victim to Shadow's unrelenting
claws, another falls to a well aimed bullet from Vance's 9mm, as he grins manically.  The last one meets
his end from a knife to the throat by a rushing Aria...

"Well done.  I see the Camerilla has some... competent... new blood."
A tall individual, donning a treanch coat and hat steps out of the shadows.  He pulls a cigerette out of
his coat and snaps his fingers, causing a small flame to appear in the palm of his hand.  Lighting his
cig, he quickly waves away the flame as he walks towards the group.

"So, you are the people I was told about hm?  You don't look so impressive.  Just a bunch of young
fledglings.  From what I understand, this is your first night in Minneapolis, right?"

"Don't tell him anything.  He knows too much!  That Filthy filty Assimite!" One voice hisses in Vance's
head.  "You may as well tell him, those Tremere are crafty.  They can pull information out of you like a
taffy puller", cries another.  "What's the point?  Those 'regal' Ventrue can make you dance on a string on a whim...' another whines.

"ASSIMITE FIEND!" Yells Vance, out of nowhere with a crazed look in his eye.

"Uh, yeah, sure.  Anyways, I think I best be off.  What with it being late and all.  I have my eye on
you three."  The stranger snaps his fingers again, and this time, a soccer-ball sized ball of fire
appears in his hand.  He throws it at the car that the Sabbat were vandilizing.  The car bursts into a
roaring inferno as he disappears into the shadows from whence he came.  In the distance, the group hears
sirens of fire trucks and police cars, heading rapidly towards their location.

"Damn it!  Let's get out of here!  Figure out what just happened later." Shadow snarls, bolting for his
parked Hummer.  The three pile in, and head out moments before the lights arrive in the lot.



Glossery can be added at request.