Holland by Night

York is being harassed by the Vampire murderer. The Coterie has been asked to find the truth behind stories of a vampire child in York, but as soon as they arrive in the city, they are used by all sides in a fiendish game. The question is not if they will survive, but how many will survive, as some have disappeared, and one of them met Final Death.

Part 9.0
Date in World of Darkness: Tuesday 19th of March 2002
Played at: Arjan

Being an impartial (for a Giovanni) account of recent happenings.
After having rested in the mines we all go to the hide-out of Anowan to pool all our knowledge and develop a strategy to deal with the situation (naturally I as a Giovanni try to take command, but no one seems to notice what a bunch of inbred swines. Funny I should say that). Anyway Anowan gives us some information that suggest Magpie might be a Dhampir. It also gives hints about a Thin Blood Syndrome, unfortunately much remains incomplete. Yet it remains fascinating, the bits about stronger resistance to sunlight in particular (to those who wish to know more about this: tough luck! Pay me first, info is like gold...).
When somebody knocks on the frontdoor, John with his usual tact janks a man inside, the same one that provided Anowan with her information. The one with the misfigured head. He claims there is a rumor in America that here in York Gehenna would start, someone here would be born with a half moon on the face, and the Book of Nod says that this child would be born by a vampire.
Eventually we decide to infiltrate the prince's house and see what more could be learned. We obtain the body of the archon out of the pit, and his ring, which I keep to use as evidence. I, Fitzgerald would try to keep the prince occupied while the others investigate. Anowan and Jack will travel through the forest, while John is hidden on the backseat of the car I'm driving (I'd rather kept him in the trunk with the rest of the garbage hehe).
Well, we found the gate opened, and no guards. Nevertheless I go onward, alone. Confronting the prince, things do not go as planned. It becomes a contest of wills between the prince's powers of the mind and those of mine. It was huge, fearsome, a cataclysm of two mights, and lasted about a nano-second. The prince wants me to get the others to him.
Despite my best effort, the others decide to slip in the back and go downward. We get intercepted in a corridor, where many men with semi-automatic guns fire all they got on us, from behind no less. Which was doubly unfortunate since I had just taken the honoured place of leadership at the back of the group. I fire, I dominate, I do everything in my power to reach the next room for cover. John and Jack make it first. As Anowan and myself try to get to them, I realize we both could get stuck in the doorway, so I slide sideways, which again unfortunately looked just like if I offered Anowan to go in first like a true gentleman. Endresult: Anowan gets to relative safety, I got left behind and was used for target practice.
Heavily wounded I got jumped by an ugly fellow (not John or Jack), who plunged a syringe into me and I blacked-out. The last thing I heard was Jack calling me a doormat, he is going to regret that if I come out of this (damned Malkavians..). All of this is watched by the prince himself! The others (without my leadership) succumb also eventually though Anowan pretends to be dead. The following is a blurred account of what seems to have happened.

• We wake up in a room with Anowan chained to the wall, not so the rest of us, we've little blood left, weak. Anowan is mumbling and it looks like she's in great pain. Sleep overtakes us.
• We all seem to be staked, watching and hearing the prince roasting his wife telling about his victims. He seems to be overtaken with guilt and wants to die. The flames burn his wife, and everything goes black again.
• We seem to be in a cage, bars with a curtain in front. Its just like were the main attraction in a freakcircus (with Jack I can believe this). In front of the audience a bloodied puppy is thrown in, which is devoured by John, the public is appalled and runs away, screaming. The owner of the circus smiles wickedly at us and throws back the curtain.
• Now we're in a cellar with a trapdoor above. Ghouls throw several innocent mortals like food down with us. I realize this all must be a trap, to make us crazy, perhaps to take away our humanity. Is the Sabbat behind this? I try to convince the others, to stop them, but they all go into a frenzy. I am powerless to save the mortals, and all goes black.
• We're lying in stasis in a mortuarium (I've seen a lot of these), our beloved look down on us, Anowans parents, John sees Yuri (whos dead). The sheets are drawn over us.
• Stars, outside on a hill. Broken graves all around us, and the dead rise with the faces of our victims on them. Reaching for us, haunting us. Is this a test of courage I think, are we tested? Eventually all goes black again.
• Still night, wolves, werewolves howl into the night, an eery huntingsong. We all decide not to play to the wiles of our tormentors anymore, to break out! Let the wolves come! They do, and rip us apart. As to be expected, all goes black.
• Were in the cellar again, a ghoul enters through the trapdoor with tools and gets jumped by John. The ghoul is surprised we were awake. We decide to make a run for it, but this is not without problems. In one case John uses me as a projectile agains our pursuers, strangly enough we get outside in the car just before sunrise. Our pursuers go up in flames, but we dont! Again all goes black! Damn, is this all an illusion?

The cellar; James Wilks the police-detective is present, the prince had him locked up in here, but he managed to get the key. (Right buddy, another illusion?). The prince seems to be mad, he burnt his wife, and now the house above is burning. We try to get out, arming ourselves in the nearby rooms with guns and grenades. The house is indeed burning. On a balustrade we look down at the entrance/exit. The prince and about six of his ghouls are there as well, blocking our way.
The prince looks awesome, when he walks out of the house. For us however, the flames make the exit extremely dangerous. Thinking to deal with this threat first I throw a grenade down, hoping that the airpressure will diffuse most of the flames (good thinking!). Then I look in horror as John throws Anowan over the balustrade at the same time. (Oh boy, is she gonna be annoyed). Luckily she suffers only minor damage, though not so the ghouls, these are hit hard.
Running to the balustrade I empty a clip of bullets into them as well, taking another one down and wounding one more. They retreat. Anowan, John and Jack have jumped down and traverse the flames to the exit. This is difficult, fear could overtake us all. The detective James Wilkes however had the right idea and just walked the stairs next to the balustrade down, jumps over the flames and to safety. (boy, these guys do look dumb!). I decide to follow the same tactic, its something I would have done anyway (sure).
Outside the prince seems to have gone, police, firemen and ambulances are present though. We're in luck, this seems to be real. I hate to think what would have happened if we had treated this as an illusion, we could have been burnt. After a quick respite in an ambulance (yeah frigerated-cooled blood by type!), we make our escape. Though some questions remain unanswered much now falls into place. Time to fully recuperate, and find out how I could turn all of this into some kind of profit.