Welcome to Providence by Night, the continuing recounting of our tabletop Vampire: the Masquerade chronicle. Providence by Night is a low-powered, “street-level” game featuring a group of very new vampires adjusting to unlife in Providence and the vampiric condition. You can read the whole story so far on our main Providence by Night page.
Starting next week we’ll take a pause in the ongoing story to start presenting the preludes for Tony, Nathan, and Beth. But in this week’s update, Beth tries not to be too visibly bored at Tony’s idea of an interesting evening, the coterie meets with their shadow, Caoimhe, to report on the results of their investigations, and finds her shaken by some of their news.
Session 11 – If I Could – Late February 2015
Beth watched, bored, as the Tzimisce discussed Game of Thrones fan theories with Tony. Tony had been insistent that the two meet before the coterie’s meeting with Caoihme to report on their progress. But, besides its fleshcrafted appearance, Beth had discovered nothing interesting about Casimir. Despite having appeared in Elysium immediately after the announcement of the Chicago Blood Accords between the Camarilla and the Sabbat, the Tzimisce proclaimed that he had always been a member and full supporter of the Camarilla. Indeed, Casimir claimed to have been a member of Providence’s court longer than the current Prince. For Beth, who had been hoping to study the perspective of a member of the Sabbat, Casimir’s asserted history was highly disappointing.
As they left, Tony pondered on whether there was a way to collect more information on who had sent the ill-fated pizza delivery drivers to Casimir’s residence, and he suggested that they follow up at the pizzeria. When they arrived, Tony waited in the car, while Beth went in to apply some charm to the cashier. Flirting with the dandruff-ridden cashier, Beth told him that a friend had been getting crank deliveries, and that it would be just great if he could let her see who had placed the orders. The cashier complied, providing Beth with the number to a Nevada cell phone, the name on the orders (“Spencer”), and the cashier’s own number. Returning to the car, Beth provided Tony with the Nevada number, kept the name to herself, and tossed the cashier’s digits. Tony called the Nevada number, but got only a generic message and left a voicemail. The Nosferatu updated his to-do list to include tracing the cell phone.
Elysium was slow on the night of February 26. Only one punch bowl of ‘refreshments’ was out and a bored-looking Seneschal Gregor watched over the scattered court from the Prince’s carved throne. The coterie members caught Caoihme’s eye and she led them into the office where they met the prior month. Despite an agreement between Beth and Tony to let the former do most of the talking, Tony jumped right in and assured Caoimhe that Justicar Warwick was fine, although he was not much inclined to share the details of the encounter. Tony also shared his theory that the hit on the Justicar was professionally done because the would-be assassins knew exactly when and where Warwick would be and where they could strike and not be caught on traffic cameras. Beth shared that the reports of “spontaneous human combustion” were probably vampires, emphasizing that the vampires in question were strangers to the city. Beth thought that this point would be significant – given the court’s emphasis on presentation to and, acceptance by, the Prince – but Caoihme only seemed interested in whether the Masquerade had held up. Tony corroborated Beht’s report, stating that the only witnesses were unreliable vagrants.
Caoihme then asked if the missing pizza delivery drivers could be traced back to Kindred activity. Concerned that another vampire was weaponizing the Masquerade by sending the deliveries to Casimir and then reporting on its responses, Beth countered Caoihme’s request for information with a question of here own – the source of the original report of a potential Masquerade breach. After some convincing, the Ventrue Harpy revealed that Casimir had self-reported the potential breach that had sparked in the investigation. Her concerns assuaged, Beth related that the matter had been handled and that there was no threat to the Masquerade. Caoimhe instructed Nathan to use his police contacts to make sure that their report on the subject was buried.
Finally, Beth brought up the matter of the gory party invitation written in Joseph McDonald’s entrails, and Caoihme became visibly shaken by the name of the victim, trying and failing to hide her reaction from the neonates. Caoihme redirected and asked about the Coterie’s new Domain. The neonates revealed that they planned to have a limited opening and that they hoped to invite the court of Providence. Caoihme cautioned them that any location that was to attempt to host so many of the Kindred of the city would require some inspection before the Prince deemed it fit for purpose. Nathan promised to coordinate an inspection with Don Coyote and the meeting was concluded. Caoihme hastened her exit, looking quite overwhelmed.
End Session 11