Re: Not Enough Time in the Knight- Imelda

The man you spoke seemed to understand, and yelled to the other one. "Hey Brian, keep an eye out for a cat around here!" The other man nodded, and both went back to work, occasionally glancing at you two.

You 'chased' Elizabeth down to the other end of the dock. She was crouched by one of the boxes, and on closer inspection, there was a bullet hole in the wall behind her. She had her hand on the box, and seemed to have mentally checked out for a moment when you approached.

She quickly snapped out of it though, and looked over on the ground at a set of tire tracks. "Is that him!?" She ran off again. This time the dock workers took notice, as the girl was getting dangerously close to the rails. Both of you had a head start though, and she was already kneeling beside the tracks with her hand on them when you and the second worker caught up to her.

"Maam, I'm sorry, but you two can't be out this far. We'll keep an eye out for your cat, if you give us your number." Elizabeth gave you a subtle nod. She already got what she came for.

[purplegeekness]

Imelda smiled to herself as she ran behind the young girl "Elizabeth! Come back here at once!" slowly enough to make sure the girl easily outpaced her. "Mr. Tiddles will make his own way back home." She made an apologetic look to the police officers as she approached the train yard, vowing not to underestimate Miss Saint. she pushed some blood to her cheeks to make herself look embarassed as she followed the girl into the yard.

"Please excuse me....I will bring her back as soon as I find her."

[Claymore]

The girl thought for a moment, staring at the 'employees only' sign. Then she took your hand and said in a monotone, just loud enough for only you to hear, "I've lost my cat mommy. Help me find him?" Then she dropped your hand and ran off through the door, as if a child getting too far ahead of a parent.

There were only a couple workers at the time, too busy with their own business to stop the girl. But they clearly noticed and tried calling out to her to find out why she was there. She ignored them and just kept running, as if in a panic, even trying to work up some realistic tears.

[purplegeekness]

Imelda followed the girl "I leave it your discretion as to which of the chosen methods to get in you might wish to employ to gian access to the items. Consider me as a resource to use to get to the bottom of this mess."

She gave you an uncertain expression. "Hm... maybe. Come on, I'll show you." She hopped off the bench and played up her childish smile while she took your hand. Only a keen eye would notice that you weren't the one leading the two of you. And of those keen eyes, only a rare one would actually care.

She took you toward one of the docks meant more for cargo than people. "We can't get over there without getting shooed away by some Kine though. And there's cameras if we circle around back. Oh, and we also need to get the chart. They told me where the train probably picked up it's cargo, but I want to see if I can read the signature."

[purplegeekness]

Imelda shook her head, indicating that she could not turn invisible. "I cannot go invisible, but I can move around unnoticed, is this enough?"

[Claymore]

The girl responded with a half-hearted hug, and awkward expression when you went so far as to kiss her. "We need to get close to the rails where it happened. Can you be unseen?"

OC: That reminds me Purple, please post your sheet in the Character Sheet topic.

[purplegeekness]

Imelda walked over to the young lady eyes smiling. She held out her hands as if she was expecting to see the girl there and had arrived to pick her up. She greeted the girl hugging her and kissing her cheek. She spoke in a low tone into the girls ear as she came close. "Greeting Miss Saint, I will follow you to where we go. We discuss things on way, yes?"

The station was unusually busy for this time of night. Certainly not as packed as a holiday season, but enough to be careful how loud you spoke. Looking around through the crowd, you managed to spot the only Kindred in the room. She looked like a 14 year old girl, with long blond hair, and a clothing style that was just a little too outdated and mature, for anyone who cared enough to notice. She sat alone on one of the benches, with a small bag next to her. And she made eye-contact with you shortly after you spotted her.

[purplegeekness]

Imelda packed the rifle carefully now it was sighted in. Every peice lovingly disassembled and cared for as she packed it away. She had other weapons, of course, but she lived by her rifle. The one threat that might leave her sect with power in the upcoming assault. A sniper bullet was difficult for anyone to defend against. Her lips quirked with distaste. Killing was always an option, but not necessarily a prefered one. Her mind reviewed the file on the jars and what the Lancea Sanctum might be involved in.

She hoped the envoy from the Lancea would be co-operative. They both had a long way to go to uncover the source of Vitae. It seemed to imply some sort of deal between the Lancea and the Carthians. She did not expect duplicity from the Lancea at this early stage in the investigation. As she packed the rifle into the trunk of the car, she drove to the transit station with the expectation of hope that some of the mysteries of the present situation might be resolved.

On arriving at the station she rechecked the files she had on this Elizabeth Saint, hoping there might be enough there to judge how the girl might react.

[Claymore]

There weren’t many people at the shooting range this time of night. The place was about to close, so anyone who didn’t already have a membership card would have little time to squeeze off many rounds after the safety test. And the test itself was a joke. Whatever wasn’t already common sense was answered for you in posters on the wall of the room they had you fill it out in.

But it was enough time to clean and site your rifle. In the booth to the right of you sounded like a couple cops trying to show off for each other. One put a 9mm round in the center of a paper bust. The other showed him up by turning that hold into the nose of a smiley face.

It wasn’t long after you got your rifle sited right when your phone rang. The Lancea Sanctum had sent over one of their most skilled members in Theban Sorcery to consult with you on who might have made those jars of Vitae. As it turns out, she was already in town investigating just that. It sounded like the Lancea Sanctum somehow got wind of the jars shortly before the Knights did. Knowing the Regent would soon start asking some awkward questions, they took it very seriously. If only to demonstrate that whoever did this was acting alone, the Prince herself ordered an Ancillae Keeper of Theban Sorcery to Serenity to have some answers ready by the time the Knights caught up with them. Her name’s Elizabeth Saint of clan Mekhet. And she’s agreed to meet with you at the northern transit station.

[purplegeekness]

Sure thing Clay, I'll be quiet until you need me.

[Claymore]

OC: Maybe not as long as you think. And don't use that roller, use the one in the menu bar up top. It'll show the results in a message window, you'll have to copy it here.

If you're not planning on going anywhere else atm, just sit tight for a second. I've got something headed your way, but it's a couple posts away in another thread.

[Dice Master]

The member 'purplegeekness' has done the following action : DICE ROLLERS! DO NOT EDIT POSTS AFTER ROLLING!!!

'WoD Dice' : 7

[purplegeekness]

OOC:Well, I'm guessing our time with the Sangiovanni's is a long time off?

Imelda headed out to the car with the tools of her trade. She needed to loosen off a few rounds for many reasons, not the least of which was to settle her mind on the problem and think of potential solutions. Her trip out to the firing range was short and succinct. She brought the tools from the car out to the range adjusting the aim of her rifle after it had been in transit for so long. Her mind ran over the plans as she fired her rifle, each shot bringing it closer to true.

OOC:No idea how to work the dieroller here.

[Claymore]

OC: Sighting a weapon requires 10 successes from Wits + Firearms rolls. It's an extended action requiring 10 minutes and 10 rounds for each roll. (In other words, including the drive to and from the range, it's too much time to get back in time to use your newly sighted gun on Gauge. ) A sighted gun gets a +1 modifier for a number of bullets equal to twice its damage.

No point in RPing that scene though, you can just roll. I need to know where you're headed next though. If you want to go after Theo... visiting Vegas is actually an option here.

[purplegeekness]

Imelda nodded, not trusting the words in English. "So, we wait for Sangiovanni and decide how to proceed from there. I understand the wish to discover where the shipment is going, but if we wait that long, it might be too late....... can we also put a priority on finding out more information on this Theo? He's behind these arm shipments....isn't it a bit unusual that someone can appear out of the blue like this? I do apologise if we're going over areas already discussed, but I'm trying to get a feel for the area."

She walked towards the door.

"Ca you take me to the shooting range. I need to sight in my rifle....i may need it sooner rather than later."

He nodded. "Meeting Dr. Robins is a simple matter. I'll call the hospital in a moment to make sure he's still there. Now if we disrupt the shipment before knowing what's already gone through, we won't be able to follow it to find out. But let's first see what Ms. Sangiovanni can find out for us. I also have a few contacts that may come through to that end.

As for the AOA leader, all we have on him is an unconfirmed name, an out-dated location, and a series of rumors. His name is Theo. We believe he's a Brujah with some military training, and performed diablerie at least twice. His last known location was Los Vegas. We also believe he was particularly vicious even as a Mortal."

[purplegeekness]

Imelda blanched as she listened to the Sheriff speak.

"Another arms shipment on the way here? That would make two......and presumably large amounts of arms too. Do you have any idea of the kinds of weaponry involved? Do we know how to find this Romanov and put pressure on him?" Imelda knew the incidents between the Carthian being killed and the arms shipment were related. It clicked somehow inside her head. She knew the killing wasn't a random falling out either, it was purposeful. It was defined. If she could only fit it into the bigger picture. "The arms were set to be delivered to the Anti Obstructionist Army. The leader of the movement to prepare for war appears to be have been killed before it started, and it's progressed the movement towards war. It was like the assassination of the old archduke. Except in this case it's like the Austrians killing the archduke instead of the Serbs." Her speaking out loud to herself was just one of the ways in which she started to formulate plans in her head. "Before our guest arrives, do we have any information on the leader of this Anti Obstructionist Army and can we arrange to interview the coronor? I assume our overall goal is to disrupt the second delivery of weapons? The question remains, how many other shipments have we not even heard of."

You had met up with Sir Tau in Elysium after he had finished his business with the Regent, most likely discussing what to do about the Hound's near fatal mistake that night. The girl that almost killed her was still speaking with Kilpatrick, so you and he had time to talk in one of the unused meeting rooms. The walls were a neural blue, and the room was carpeted and lit with recessed lights the cieling. When the building was renovated, it was designed with Kindred in mind. So for those who were more sensitive to light than others, there were no harsh florescent lights anywhere in the building. In the middle of the room was a long conference table, dark wood and polished to a mirror finish. At the front was a projection screen for the projector that hung from the cieling.

The other Knight, Gareth Fairbook, wasn't present at the time. If not for the odds that at least one of them is always kept busy anyway, this is more or less deliberate. Except for meetings in your Haven and official assignments that require all of you, the Knights are often as high priority a target as those they protect. And for the same reason the Prince and Seneschal are rarely seen in the same place at the same time, they generally believe it's a good idea to have one of you on standby.

The man who stood before you is an American wet dream. Tau, long before he rediscovered his real name, is not an Elder like Fairbook, but still carries more status than him. And as far as the locals, only a few Invictus know he also carries more status than Regent Kilpatrick. And he did it from nothing. Born a slave in the south, and Embraced some years after buying his freedom and moving north to find work. Rumor has it he was actually extremely reckless and jaded as a Fledgling, but between the power of his bloodline and wisdom of his Sire, he quickly grew into one of the most respected Knights on the east coast.

But when it comes to your Cell, age and status carry little weight beyond the wisdom of personal experience. Each of you looks at one another as an equal and an invaluable resource. And each of you has already proven yourselves to one another by earning enough trust from the Covenant to take the oath. Whoever takes up the role of leadership from one assignment to the next is based entirely on the circumstances.

He stood by the table while you two spoke. "I've already spoken to Primogen Welder, but I doubt he was as forthcoming as he could have been. As much as they disliked each other, Welder is still a Carthian. But it may be worth trying again with this recent information. What we do know is that Mr. Frost was in contact the Anti-Obstructionist Army shortly before he died, and that he may have made some progress getting the local Carthians to accept their aid in preparing for open war. I also wouldn't discount the possibility that Frost faked his own death to martyr himself and rally the rest of his Covenant to his cause."

He removed some photographs from one of the folders on the table and showed them to you. This was the first time you'd actually seen Frost. The picture showed a tall, heavyset, bald black man laying seemingly dead on an autopsy table. Other pictures were of the crime scene, an elevator shaft that looked like it was in an abandoned industrial area. "He was shot point blank in the head and was found at the bottom of an elevator shaft in the former mineral processing plant north of Serenity. If he died, he didn't die there. As you'll see from the pictures taken from the hospital, the bullet wound had healed. However his Childe, Magdalene, was reported to have found his ashes in the morgue drawer, shortly after these were taken, killed by the coroner Gil Robbins, who was a Ghoul for the assassin for failed to kill him the first time. This, we found out just recently, and haven't followed up with the Ghoul yet."

Next, he opened up his file for the train-yard shootout. "This is possibly related. The police were tracking a Russian arms dealer named Romanov, and followed an anonymous tip when they discovered this. We suspect the shipment was intended for the AOA. But there was no indication on how they planned to move so many crates from the station. Only three pickup trucks were on the scene, and no forklifts. Those who escaped were chased to the warehouse complex, and assassinated by a third party before the police could do much more. That scene has been cleared, and no Vitae was found. I plan on taking a look for myself just in case. And all the weapons are now in the evidence room at the 13th Precinct. And I just got a call from a new Kindred who's on her way here now to introduce herself, Camille Sangiovanni of the Lancea Sanctum, stating that one of her contacts stumbled across information about another arms shipment headed here."


_{OC: I know I no-sold a little bit there, sorry. But this NPC was actually already in the middle of something, so putting yourself in a conversation with him automatically placed you in Elysium. And I figure some details of the cases might change your mind on how to proceed.}

[purplegeekness]

Imelda rose from her bed, rubbing her eyes. It had been a long time since she died and she still had that same reflex. She showered and dressed quickly, not wasting any time. There was too much afoot in the city. They needed to start making sense of it all. As she dressed her mind wandered over all of the issues currently affecting the city.

The question was not what should be done, but where to start. The Invictus versus Carthian movement had the potential to destroy all Kindred presence in the city. It needed to take priority, but which of the matters to investigate first? The arms and Vitae shipment showed that the Carthians might be close to making a move, but the subsequent Masquerade breach might have slown things down for long enough for intervention to work.

She dressed formally in a navy blue business suit, but with shoes more appropriate for the kind of heavy walking they were going to do. Her pockets and bag were filled with the tools she needed to do the job. As she left her room, she nodded to the others, lifting a briefcase from just inside the entrance to her room.

"I need to see everything we have on the assassination of Terrell Frost and on the incident in the Train yard. We're going there now." she looked at the cellphone she'd been given already preprogrammed with all of the numbers she'd need. She flicked through the phonebook until she found the number she was looking for. The phone call went into voicemail. "This is a formal request from Imelda Maria Massimiliano for the presence of a member of the Lancea knowing of the ritual to preserve vitae to be at the train site in around an hour. If you could be so kind as to call me back at this number."

She turned to face the others. "I'll read on the way. Sheriff, if you could fill me in on the small details as we work. I do not know many of the major players in this envrionment. How did the police get the tip off?"

[Claymore]

Invictus Knights typically work in Cells of three, but in recent nights, there was enough work to keep several cells busy. First was the issue at the train station and that Ghouling Vitae, and the biggest masquerade breach in years when the police raid ensued. As one of your members, Ta'Ziyah Tau, also serves the Regent as Sheriff, you three often find yourselves aiding him when there's no more urgent call from a coven-mate. The only way for Kindred blood to stay Vitae for more than a few seconds outside the body was through a ritual known only to the Lancea Sanctum. However they have yet to offer any theories on where it came from. The only thing that's known for sure is that the police were there tracking a large weapons import, later found to be in connection with the Carthians, not expecting the ‘drug’ known as ‘Red Steel’, and speculated to be some combination of steroids and PCP. They also know that the train came from the islands of the Lancea Sanctum Prince's immediate domain. The local Regent has been in contact with her frequently lately. The Sheriff was quick to cover things up, making use if his influence in the medical field to call a temporary quarantine until he could program most of the witnesses to forget certain details. But a breach of this scale is impossible to completely contain.

Another matter that’s common knowledge that the Knights have filled you in on was the coming war between the Invictus and Carthians. For some time now, the Prince has employed a Carthian Primogen, Alec Welder. Welder took the stance that, rather than watch his coven-mates get hunted by the Hound for sport, he would personally vouch for many of the ones who would rather go to him than bend a knee to the Invictus Regent and introduce themselves the official way. Welder was then responsible for keeping them in line.

However there was another Carthian who rose in status among them by beginning to unite the conflicting factions, Terrell Frost. It was well known that Frost and Welder never saw eye to eye. Frost saw himself as upholding the Carthian ideal, while Welder saw himself as protecting the actual Carthians. And both played tug of war for enough power to use to those ends. When Frost died, the Carthians falsely assumed it was an Invictus assassination, and he was elevated to the status of martyr. Regent Kilpatrick's plan to use Welder to keep the Covenant in line is now obsolete, as they're banning together faster than would have been possible of Frost were still alive, and writing Welder off as an Invictus lapdog. There's a bomb waiting to go off under this city.

In other news, one of the Knights recently encountered a member of the VII at club SINless, who became aware of her own brainwashing and therefore self-destructive. Due to her good service to the Invicus in the past, immediate termination has been put aside for the possibility of deprogramming her. She is currently at a BRI facility under the care of Technologist Hannibal Schreiber. However, Garth Fairbook in particular, the VII expert among you, recommends frequent checkups. He doesn't trust the corporation, even if it does employ several Kindred.

Then there's the matter of the 'Dragon', calling herself Shiataan. The reason why you're joining this cell tonight was because one of the other members met his end to a powerful demon that they've been tracking for years. The best theory they have is that it's actually a member of the Brood who hops from one Mortal host to another by mere touch, making her extremely difficult to keep up with. They assume female, because that’s been the majority of her hosts. The story in the news now about a ten year old girl, who bears a striking resemblance to a girl who's face was on milk cartons about ten years ago, committing suicide at a local hotel, is exactly what it looks like. She was captured briefly by the late-Knight in that hotel. But a noble and misguided staff member got wind of what was going on and caused enough of a disruption for both to lose their lives as the girl escaped. She needed a new face to elude capture. So someone in that gathering crowd is now host to a demon soul.

Another issue that's been causing a stir is the existence of five queue ball-sized red orbs that were created by a powerful and insane Mage some years ago, when there was a great battle over this city and it's unusual number of Mana Sources. It's theorized that these orbs are a weapon of some kind. A Tremere Lich, who goes by the name Father Virgil Vesuvius, in fact came to the aid of the local Kindred when they began getting dragged into a war that wasn't theirs, and is a personal friend of the Regent. He encased the orbs in boxes impenetrable to magic, and scattered them across the globe, until a way to destroy them could be found. So it's rather disturbing that at least three of them have managed to find their way back to this city.

The nights were full, and as you wake up for the first time in Sky Valley, there's no time to get acquainted and settle in. It's straight to work, and you had your pick.

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