Session 25: Shaking the Foundation Report

Opening Scene:

1. Location: The Coterie starts off in their own Haven, in the room that was nicknamed the “Tap-Room” for their party. 2. What Happened: The Wellerman provided the Vitae of an older Lasombra to the Coterie as they needed to wake Jax and Saoirse out of Torpor. Having drank from a Lasombra, Jax, Saoirse and Tala gained access to learning Oblivion. • Jax learned Oblivion from the Lasombra. • Tala learned Oblivion from the Lasombra. • Saoirse did not immediately try to access Oblivion. (Not enough exp) After updating the 2 on what they missed, they began prepping to head to the Prince’s Tower. • Saoirse used Draught of Might to give her Coterie Potence. • Quinton learned Fortitude from Saoirse when receiving Draught of Might. • Jax learned Fortitude from Saoirse when receiving Draught of Might. Having access to new Fortitude Powers, Quinton was able to heal Saoirse’s Aggravated Damage, then immediately he ran off to the Prince’s Tower, choosing to use Obfuscate and his temporary Potence powers to jump from one rooftop to the next, all the way to the Prince’s Tower. Quinton received 15 successes as he made his way across town, looking like a badass, and was able to use a winged jump suit to jump from a building adjacent to the Prince’s Tower and glide onto one of the floors that exploded. Meanwhile Tala, Jax, and Saoirse got suited up before heading out. Saoirse and Jax went on their motorcycles. Tala had to steal a Motorcycle, with a Bestial Failure which activated her Clan Bane. They encountered Scruff McGruff who was posted at the Blockade on the street leading to the Resolute Spire to prevent civilians from entering. Scruff McGruff allowed the Coterie to go by as they arrived. Jax arrived first and saw a man down the street.   Tala and Saoirse arrived 2nd at the same time and were just in time to lose sight of Jax as he sped off down the road.    

Upon Arrival at Resolute Spire:

Phase 1: Quinton: Quinton jumped into the top of the Resolute Spire from a nearby Skyscraper, landing in the top floors where the explosion had happened. With Auspex he was able to see the insane amount of Blood Sorcery Wards/Runes covering the walls, floor and ceiling. There were large gaps were the Wards had activated and were spent. Quinton proceeded up to the Prince’s Office to investigate as he couldn’t determine anything about the explosion itself. Upon entering the Prince’s Office, he saw every inch of the room covered in runes and wards. Noticeably there was a bunch of runes/wards that formed an Arch. Quinton used Premonition and confirmed it was a Blood Sorcery Doorway, but he was unable to activate it. He also couldn’t find any sign that the Prince was in the Tower during the explosion. Jax: Jax pulled past the Police barricade and stopped in front of the Resolute Spire. He looked over just as a Man was stepping out of an alley down the street. The man clearly had blood on his shirt, which he was trying to hide as he was zipping up his sweatshirt. As the man was pulling up his hood, he made eye contact with Jax, revealing the Man’s 3rd Eye. With a look of panic, he turned and ran off back down the alley. Jax immediately chased on his Motorcycle. Tala and Saoirse: As Tala and Saoirse approached the Resolute Spire, Tala began experiencing the sensation of someone or something following them, even though there was nothing there when she looked. Saoirse had Philly try to chase down Jax to keep an eye on him in case he needed help. They then proceeded to the tower and stopped to take a look at the body bags that were being laid on the sidewalk in front of the tower. As Tala went to move to the second body bag, the nearby streetlight flickered and went out, and it felt as if whatever was following them was now standing right behind them. Tala activated her new Oblivion power of Shadow Cast to wrap herself in shadows. Saoirse began to freak out from this and tried pulling Tala out of the shadows, but was unable to. The second Saoirse came into contact with Tala while Oblivion was active, Saoirse’s brand of St. Michael began to intensely burn, warning her against having anything to do with Oblivion. Tala explained she was doing it and then went back to looking at bodies. At this point a woman walked past and was highly alarmed, avoiding the pair. Saoirse took a minute to determine if she needed to do any Masquerade coverage but decided against it. As Saoirse looked back to Tala, Tala was gone. Saoirse tried various lights to penetrate the shadows, but even doing so revealed no one there. Saoirse then went into the Resolute Spire where it was darker in hopes of finding Tala there.   Phase 2: Quinton: Quinton continued looking through the Prince’s Office for secrets, and any sign of the necklace which Saoirse had gifted her at the party earlier in the night, as they knew she was wearing it. Saoirse eventually joined him, letting him know that Tala and Jax were both missing. He activated Premonition and saw they were in a deadly situation. Momo whispered to Quinton “I can save them. Just let me out.”. After conferring with Tomunique, he looked at Saoirse and said Run, then allowed Momo to take control. Saoirse: Saoirse was still unable to locate Tala so she went up stairs to find Quinton for help locating them. After explaining to Quinton what had happened, and was told to run, she jumped back down the Elevator Shaft. As she looked up she saw a flood of pure darkness explode from the Prince’s Office Door. She took the Elevator shaft all the way down to the Basement. Jax: Jax chased the mysterious man, who used some mad Parkour skills to evade for a brief time as he jumped fences and such. Jax identified that this was in fact a Salubri, and that it had to be an elder based on how potent it’s blood was. The closer Jax got to his prey, he began having to make Hunger Frenzy tests which got harder the closer he got. He finally caught up to his prey in a dead end alley. Jax tried to keep control and not immediately eat the Salubri before him, but he quickly lost. His beast lunged onto the person and drained them dry. As he pulled away he realized he had just killed a young man in his early 20’s who was not the Salubri he thought he was chasing. The spirits of all the mortals Jax has ever killed showed up surrounding him, followed by the Kindred he had killed. Finally the spirit of the kid in his arms appeared, who attacked Jax after he realized what had happened. The Wraith caused aggravated Damage and a Stain on Jax’s Humanity. Jax tried to turn and run to his bike, but the world faded away before him just as he reached out for his bike. He found himself being pulled into the shadows which suddenly surrounded him until he was surrounded by a cold empty void of black nothingness, which many would call an “Abyss”. Tala: Tala verified that none of the corpses in the body bags were Kindred, but then noticed that Saoirse was trying to say something but her voice was being muffled. She then had freezing cold black chains wrap around her wrists and ankles as the shadows began to tightly envelope her, causing immense pressure and discomfort upon her soul. She watched as Saoirse walked away from her into the tower, and then witnessed several shadow creatures which spoke about her. After her Touchstone appeared as if it was really her, Tala was pulled into the nearby shadows until she was surrounded by a cold empty void of black nothingness, which many would call an “Abyss”.   Phase 3: Saoirse: Saoirse landed on top of the actual Elevator which was at the very bottom of the Elevator Shaft. She jumped into it and pried the doors open to reveal the Prince’s Dungeon. She found several cages and all kinds of torture devices from every era. She found a few Kindred in Morgue Drawers who were staked, with a drop of fresh blood on their lips while the rest of them was covered in dust from being there for so long. As she tried to figure out what to do next, she felt a double barrel shotgun suddenly against her skull and something poking her in the back right behind her heart. The Scourge asked “What are you doing here?”.   Jax, Tala and Quinton/Momo: Jax and Tala found themselves standing in the Abyss, and could see each other. Each turn these two were here, they took Stains to their Humanity, leading to Aggravated Willpower Damage. A creature began to approach them accelerating the damage they were taking, but the 2 just centered themselves to see what would come of this. The figure used Arms of Ahriman of the Elder level, causing shadow arms to erupt from the Kindred’s bodies as arms reached out from the creature until they met in the middle. The arms erupting from the Kindred had wrapped around the inside of their torsos as they took hold. Tala was lifted up by the arms of Ahriman, and continue to fill her with oblivion until it caused her to explode. The same thing had happened to Jax, when everything suddenly went black.       Phase 3: Quinton, Jax, and Tala: Jax and Tala awoke once more in a dimly lit room, with nothing but a candle to light it. They were on their knees with their arms behind their backs. Hands and Feet were restrained using fleshcraft to pull their own bones out of the body to act as restraints. Momo walked in between the two and turned to face them. She had wings with visible bone for the hard parts, but the webbing was made out of pure shadow. Her eyes were pitch black, and she thanked the 2 of them for freeing her from Quinton’s control and stated that her friend has been wanting to met Jax for a long time. The Salubri Warrior walked out in front of the 2 PC’s and squatted in front of Jax with a smile, clearly excited to see him. He explained he has wanted to meet Jax in person to thank him for all the help. The Salubri placed a hand on Jax’s cheek causing his tattoos to glow a bright red, sending searing pain through his body causing 4 Aggravated Damage. As Jax began to fall into Torpor, the Salubri quickly healed 1 Agg damage to keep him conscious. He explained how he had been the one to Curse Jax with the eyes, and has been watching everything for years now. He saw the Prince’s Tower, the Chantry and more, and would not have been able to pull off tonight’s attack without this insight. He asked why he would stay loyal to the Camarilla since they deny him the right to grow stronger to Caine, to Diablerize as he sees fit. He stated the Sabbat would allow him to be free in this. Quinton was aware of this entire scene, and could see 2 more Kindred standing against the wall behind the other 2 PC’s on either side of the stairs leading out of this basement. In front of the stairs was a massive Szlachta War Ghoul standing at roughly 10 feet tall, and a massive body. It has 2 massive muscular legs and 6 Arms. 2 Arms are forged into a combo of Feral Weapons and Flesh Crafted Weapons. 2 Arms are holding swords. The last 2 arms hold guns. This is where the session ended for the night.     Saoirse: Right before Saoirse allows the Abyss to reach into her soul corrupt her Blood, Saoirse’s Sigil of St. Michael will begin to immensely burn causing multiple Superficial Damage or 1 Aggravated Damage depending on which would be most dramatic and what level her health is at. She will take damage each time she attempts to access Oblivion, to a maximum of 7 Damage. (It’s 7 exp to buy the first dot in this Discipline…. And I doubt she will keep trying after the first attempt.)   Jax:   Jax will notice a man on the periphery of the scene just as the man is zipping up a Hoodie, covering up what Jax can tell is fresh, dark red blood covering what Jax can see of the man's shirt before the hoodie is zipped up.   Jax's heightened senses pick up the faintest smell coming from the man's direction of Kindred Vitae that is unlike any Vitae he has ever smelled before, which stirs Jax's beast into full on hunt mode.   The man then pulls his hood up over his head but not before Jax notices a 3rd eye upon the man's forehead with tears of Vitae slowly dripping down from it. The man makes eye contact at this moment, and with an expression of sheer panic, the man turns and runs causing the predatory gut reaction within Jax to chase his prey to muster up from within.   Between the overwhelming delicious smell of the Vitae, and the presence of a 3rd eye, Jax would immediately recall the stories of the 3-eyed Salubri, and how just the smell of their Vitae can send a Kindred reeling into a Hunger Frenzy, even when fully satiated.   Any attempt to inform his Coterie about this will require a very difficult Willpower Test, as Jax's Beast fights for control. The Beast will refuse to allow Quinton or anyone else get in their way of Diablerizing this Elder Salubri. The Predatory Nature takes over causing Jax to find any way he can to disappear off on his own to pursue this prey.   As Jax begins to pursue this potential Salubri, Jax can clearly see all of the signs that this Kindred must be incredibly injured. The man staggers as he runs, a trail of vitae drops follow behind him with the occasional smear of vitae along a dumpster or abandoned car, and so on.   As Jax catches up with this man, the smell of his Vitae grows more and more potent becoming nearly overwhelming. The Beast begins to fight harder and harder to take control. Jax will have to begin making Very Difficult Hunger Frenzy Tests as the scent of this Elder Salubri Vitae stirs the Beast to take over. By the time Jax catches up with the Salubri, Jax will have to make Extremely Difficult Hunger Frenzy Tests if he tries to do anything outside of draining this Salubri Elder dry.   The moment Jax pulls his lips away from his prey, he regains his senses and full control as the haze from extreme hunger having lifted as the Beast gives up control and curls up to slumber. The excitement of pursing his Ambition also fades as the Jax looks over the corpse once more.   Instead of the Salubri he had thought he was pursuing, he holds the dead, limp corpse of a young man in his early 20's. (Causing 3 Stains as the combination of his Beast and his Ambition for Power caused him to completely violate his Conviction of "Never Harm the Youth" and the Chronicle Conviction of "Protect the Innocent".) The Camera pulls back to show Jax on his knees with the drained corpse of a murdered young man in his hands. Jax’s pitch-black eyes looking down over the limp corpse as the realization of what just happened sinks in.   As Jax looks up from the corpse, incorporeal silhouettes of every Mortal that Jax has ever killed slowly shimmer into existence, surrounding Jax. A moment later the silhouettes of every Kindred that Jax has killed begin to shimmer into existence, standing between him and the mortals. This includes the Spirits of those whom Jax has Diablerized, even a seemingly hollow Spirit of Dr. Crucio stands before Jax.   Finally, a faded silhouette that looks exactly like the man Jax holds in his arms shimmers into existence in front of Jax. The Wraith lets loose a blood curdling scream as it realizes what happened, and in a heartbeat the Wraith lashes out at Jax seeking vengeance.   The Wraith and all the other Spirits will chase Jax if he runs trying to lash out at Jax. Eventually The Wraith will hit Jax causing Willpower Damage and 1 Stain. Jax’s only options will be to flee or die as he won’t be able to protect himself any other way from the Wraith.   As Jax flees from his murdered pursuers, the world around him begins to fade away until nothing of the City remains. Jax finds himself surrounded in a freezing absolute blackness in all directions which some might call, an Abyss.     Tala: As the Coterie is walking, Tala begins to feel as if something is following her. Even if she mentions it to the others, none of them can perceive anything so they continue to walk. The feeling of being followed grows stronger and stronger until it feels as if someone or something is standing behind her, and beside her. As the nearby streetlight flickers a few times before shutting off, the Coterie approaches a Mortal on the street who is walking in the opposite direction. The mortal quickly adverts her gaze away from Tala, shifting it down to the sidewalk in front of her. At the same time, the woman moves over to walk on the curb of the sidewalk, as if trying to keep as far away from Tala as possible. The woman only looks up to glimpse to the street as if considering crossing but is unable to due to traffic, so she instead begins walking at a slightly faster pace to get past the Coterie. Any interaction with the woman will cause her to scream and run off in terror. After the Woman hurries past or takes of running/screaming, the Coterie continues to walk wherever it is they are going, slowing as the next streetlight in their path begins to flicker a few times before shutting off leaving the Coterie, again in the dark. As Tala begins looking around, she notices that the Coterie looks confused, concerned and alarmed as they begin to call out Tala’s name, as if she had vanished. Despite standing right beside the Coterie, their voices rapidly begin to fade away and become muffled until they are inaudible. If Tala tries to talk to the Coterie, she learns that her voice was rapidly becoming muffled and suppressed until not a sound can escape. If she tries to physically move towards or interact with the Coterie in any way, she feels something as cold as ice wrap around her wrists, preventing her from moving. Looking down a thick, pitch-black Chain is wrapped tightly around her wrist. The chains continue to wrap further up her arms, growing tighter and tighter as they slowly begin pulling Tala away from the Coterie and closer to the building they were walking along. Tala’s perspective shifts so that she is looking down on herself as if watching a movie. She sees herself in pure panic, screaming and begging for help on the side of the street as thick black chains wrap themselves around Tala’s arms and legs as they now pull her into the wall of the building. Tala can do nothing but watch as ripples move out along the wall, originating from where the Chains have begun to pull her into the wall. Tala can see a thick, almost viscous shadow begins to envelope her as she slowly disappears into the wall. Despite all of this, the confused Coterie jogs away from Tala in the direction that they had been heading. Another group of people turn onto the street, taking a wide berth around Tala, looking at her with disgust and annoyance. As they pass, Tala can hear as they whisper among themselves things like “She was asking for it” or “She deserves it” and “It’s just another woman trying to take on more than she can handle, who cares.”. As the group walks past they slowly fade out of sight as if they had walked into a dense fog. Suddenly Tala feels perspective shift back into her own body. The way the beyond freezing shadows tightly envelope her as she is pulled into the wall sends a shock through her body, similar to how it feels when someone is surprised with a bucket of ice cold water dumped on them, but far worse. As her eyes refocus, Tala can see her Touchstone, Charlie Jayne, shimmer into view standing a few feet away from her. Sheer disappointment upon Charlie’s face as she looks at Tala. Before Charlie turns to walk away, Tala can hear Charlie say “If she can’t even help herself, what made her think she could ever help another woman in need? How pathetic.” Charlie steps away and fades out of existence as Tala is consumed by the Shadows having lost her Freedom, and any sense of Power. Tala finds herself surrounded in a freezing absolute blackness in all directions which some might call an Abyss.   Once in the Abyss: Each turn they will take 1 Stain. Every 2 turns they will make a Remorse Roll, but the Stain is not removed if they succeed the roll. The Stains are only removed when they lose a Humanity. If they critically fail, they lose 1 Humanity AND the Stains are not removed.   They find themselves standing together in the Abyss, no longer restrained or being chased. Any attempt to speak results in the sensation of an incredibly thick pudding like substance forcing its way into their mouths and down their throats causing them to suffocate and preventing them from speaking. Despite how uncomfortable this is, the Dead do not need to breath, so it is easy enough to prevent this from causing any serious damage. Despite their active choice to not breath or speak, there is a different kind of suffocating sensation that is more alarming. They both feel an immense pressure around them. Similar to how it feels when you dive into the ocean, and as you go deeper you experience more pressure from the water pushing down around you. But instead of inflicting any kind of Physical pain as the pressure builds, it begins to crush your Humanity and your Soul. The floor suddenly rumbles, waves of ripples pass beneath their feet (which makes it hard to tell if the floor is actually solid, or liquid). The only thing they can see within the surrounding absolute darkness in every direction, is a figure walking towards them. The figure came into sight, rising out of the floor, as if it had been walking up a flight of stairs onto the floor that the two of the PC’s were standing on, and then continued walking straight towards them. Due to having no point of reference, it is impossible to tell how far the person is. With each step the figure takes causes another wave of ripples to roll out. If Jax/Tala approach the person, or allow the person to approach them, they both experience the sensation of the previously mentioned suffocating pressure intensifying as the Abyss begins closing in around them, and chains beginning to wrap around their limbs to trap them. They also begin to feel as their skin begins to grow tight and crack is it begins to rapidly decay. The sensation of being burned by acid accompanying the decay grows more intense as the decaying flesh begins to spread. The Figure will reach out with Arms of Ahriman and pierce into each of the PC’s spine. The Arms of Ahriman will dig in, wrapping itself around the inside of their torsos. The Figure will continue to approach them. · If Both of them try to flee, the arms will tighten around them causing damage. · If Both of them try to get closer to the Figure, the arms will begin pulling them in closer to it faster and will cause more damage. · If only one of them tries to flee, while the other either stands still or approaches the Figure, the one who is trying to Flee, will be able to move away from the Figure.   Outcome: The person who was caught by the Figure, or approached the figure will be devoured and experience the briefest nanosecond of their entire soul and body being ripped to shreds and shredded into absolute oblivion. The person who ran will loop back to find themselves having ran right into another Arm of Ahriman, which now penetrates into their stomach, and rapidly begins wrapping itself around their torso from the inside. As they now stand right beside this Figure and their Coterie-mate they can clearly watch as this figure use it’s Arm of Ahriman to cause their Coterie-Mate to explode, as the abyssal arms push out on every inch of their body with such immense force. The arms then rapidly flail around grabbing the bits and pieces of their Coterie-Mate and pulls it all into the figure in the middle. The figure then turns to face the remaining PC, and does the same to them. They both will awaken from this experience, with permanent scars in the center of their stomachs and backs and the lingering feeling that they are never alone. Neither will have actually taken any damage from this event.