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.
All of our memoriam and preludes out of the way, the narrative storyline resumes as the coterie, “gifted” with what seemed to the powers-that-be as a less-than-desirable domain, gets to the opening night of their warehouse-turned-nightclub, Quintessence. Nathan plots with (and against) his fellow Brujah, Tony gets wrapped around a harpy’s little finger, Beth fails with her mortal niece in more ways than one, and Spencer (a.k.a. DJ Holographic Ocean) finally gets to try out those dots in Fame and Performance.
Session 11 – Tonight I’m Gonna Rock You Tonight – March 12-13, 2015
The coterie had been busy in the weeks since wrapping up their initial investigations in late January. Beth’s influence was waxing at Brown and she had been named a finalist for Brown’s Graduate School Faculty Award for Advising & Mentoring. Additionally, her application to Providence’s Athenæum has been approved and Beth looked forward to seeing if anything would come from her new membership. Spencer expended a lot of personal resources to make sure that the club’s entertainers had everything necessary to perform. Nathan searched for more clues on the activities and leadership of the Outlaw Motorcycle Club. Tony … played lots of Skyrim (ok, maybe not the entire coterie was that busy). Furthermore, the Coterie was working hard to ensure the success of their opening night.
Tony and Nathan discussed prioritizing the search for Casimir’s tormentor – Nathan in hopes that the coterie could collect the Tzimisce’s boon, and Tony in hopes that he would only have to split it with Nathan. The two also agreed to a trade: Tony would provide one bag of blood to Nathan each week and Nathan would owe him a favor to be named later. Tony tried unsuccessfully to trade boons with Spencer, but their discussions broke down when Tony declined Spencer’s requests to hack a telecommunications provider or break into the probably well-warded haven of Kevin, and Spencer declined to owe Tony a favor for turning the lights.
The night before Quintessence opened, Sheriff Tatyana, Deputy Don Coyote, and the Prince’s two ghouled doormen turned up to make sure that the coterie had sufficiently planned for what was expected to be a Kindred-infested event. However, despite their insistence that an ‘inspection’ take place, not much inspecting occurred, apart from Tatyana testing her body weight again various doors and Maurice quizzing Beth about the particulars of the club’s various entry and egress points.
Nathan pulled Don Coyote aside and asked him to have his back during opening night. The two Brujah left and met at Nathan’s office for the real discussion. Nathan discovered that his sire Rachael was basically Providence’s most-wanted Kindred and Don Coyote confirmed that the Outlaws were under Rachael’s control. Furthermore, Coyote expected that they’d turn up again soon because “it’s much easier to ride without slush.” The pair made a deal to contact each other if either one encountered Rachael’s gang in the city. “I wouldn’t be surprised if you had a few more broodmates to deal with. She’s angry and seems to have a knack for creating her own army.”
Back at Quintessence, the club had mostly cleared out before midnight, everything cleared for opening. In the cavernous space, one of Spencer’s entourage, Conrad, approached the Tremere, asserting that he was “ready for the next level.” Conrad explained that he had been on some websites designed for “people like him” and wanted to drink some of Spencer’s blood. “It’s only fair, right?” Conrad petitioned. “You’ve been drinking from us for years now and the blog said that after only a small amount, he was able to lift a sofa one handed and run a sub-four minute mile!” Conrad continued to sell the idea, playing on Spencer’s difficulty saying no. Eventually, Spencer relented and ghouled his friend, Conrad’s reverence for the blood contrasting with the cheap bar glass containing it. Spencer felt terrible about possibly making Conrad substance-dependant, something that Artemis (another member of the entourage) had been dealing with before meeting Spencer, but was also curious if Conrad had picked up any talents in the exchange. The new ghoul tried using powers, but noticing no immediate effect, thanked Spencer and left to practice auspex with the aid of a Magic Eye hidden image book.
Opening night came, and the Coterie awoke nervous and hungry. They arrived to get things all set up with Spencer particularly concerned about the merch booth. The first patrons trickled in and among them, Nathan spied Bruno Russo, who turned up and congratulated Nathan on a good turnout. “Now what would you like reported to the Patriarcas?” the bookie asked, referring to Providence’s most well-known organized crime family. Not wanting the coterie to get stuck under anyone’s thumb, Nathan told Bruno that the club’s owners were to be taken seriously and demanded that any deals should be made with the Patriarcas themselves, not intermediaries. The bookie tried to assure the angry Brujah that he was looking out for his best interests, but agreed to send the message. Bruno then decided that his time was better spent trying to win over the lovely woman who now stood at the bar with a commanding presence. He bought her a drink as Nathan pondered exactly how much trust he could put in Bruno.
One of Spencer’s contacts, a guest artist from further west who had recently released his first single, White Iverson, via SoundCloud, opened the evening to the crowd’s great enjoyment. Tony’s herd of cosplayers showed up as well, complimenting the retro vibes of the club, while one of Tony’s Nosferatu allies, Nick, sampled the locals (obfuscated, of course). Tony himself made his way to the VIP area where primogen Marie-Claire and rest of the Toreador crowd sat waiting for the main event to start. Tony confirmed a boon with the harpy, but found himself drawn in by the force of her presence. Somehow, he had never before noticed how lovely she was and was almost embarrassed to learn that she had made herself flushed with life with life just for the occasion of meeting him. Time began to slip away as Tony sat beside the Toreador, basking in her glory.
Beth also had a mind to welcome the Toreador guests. But before she could accomplish that, she spotted her mortal niece Rina (a freshman at Brown) and Rina’s friend Theresa. Beth was not pleased, thinking back to the alcohol-soaked party the two had thrown at Beth’s townhouse, but Rina was quick to point out the black Xs on her hands: proof that she was not drinking. Rina proclaimed her excitement to see Holographic Ocean (Spencer’s stage name) in concert and Beth was amazed to learn that people were being bused in from out of state for the event. Beth dropped into the conversation that she ran the club, but was disappointed to get essentially no reaction, as Rina found the notion so incredible as to be some sort of joke, and went back to dancing with Theresa.
Nathan witnessed the encounter between Beth, Theresa (who he was still being paid to look out for), and another girl he did not know, and approached Theresa after Beth had excused herself. Theresa spotted the oncoming Nathan and, before he could get a word in, goaded him into dancing with them. Theresa explained to Rina that Nathan “worked with her father” to Rina while Nathan bobbed his awkward penguin dance with the two coeds. Nathan asked Rina how she knew Beth and was surprised to learn that Rina was Beth’s mortal niece. Nathan then offered an introduction to the girls with the chance to meet Nathan’s friend, “Holographic… Spencer.”
Then DJ Holographic Ocean took over the room, mounted on a pedestal as it rose from below stage. As he performed, he could feel the pulse of the crowd and as he mixed his art, feeling as if he could even control the crowd at an unconscious level. As the music continued, Spencer looked around the room and was shocked to lock eyes with a face from his past. Finally, after the set had finished, Ochumere approached Spencer and squeezed his hand. She confessed that she was happy to find Spencer alive (figuratively) and promised that they would catch up later after things quieted down.
End Session 12