Let's Play: VAMPIRE: THE MASQUERADE: BLOODLINES

[DFM]

Whelp finally got back up to speed, let's continue part two of EVERYONE'S FAVORITE LET'S PLAY THREAD THAT'S RIGHT MINE

LINK TO THE OLD THREAD HERE





Spaghetti and Corpses




Two weeks.







Two weeks since I first went into that hell, three days since I tore it down and I still can't get the nightmares out of my head. Too many monsters. Too many needles. Too much time and energy spent fighting them. Twisting them.


Killing them.



I barely remember what happened down there. There was a lot of pain and there was a lot of blood.

I found my jacket, though.

I found Barabus, too. Gary was pretty happy about that. He called me on my cellphone after it was all over and the Fu Syndicate building was collapsing to dust with military response teams dropping from blackhawk helicopters. He said he sold the location of the sarcophagus to one other party, at the same time as he sold it to the prince.

The American Giovanni.



They're an old family with older Italian roots. Generations of incest, organized crime, skeletons, death cults... and that's only what I'd heard about before my embrace. But Gary said if I wanted to play jihad I had to do my homework, and that's exactly what I've been doing ever since I fled the rubble of the Fu Syndicate. Talked with LaCroix. Talked with Damsel, talked with Jack, talked with Max and Gary and Pisha.

Max and Pisha told me about the history of the Giovanni family, helped separate rumors and myths from documented facts. It was obvious that the core of the family was made of Kindred, embraced from the very best the mortal branches of the family had to offer. They were never part of the Camarilla or under its jurisdiction, since officially the Camarilla barely considers them kindred but does consider them a whole lot of other dangerous and nasty things, including age old necromancers and blood sorcerers.

Damsel called me over to the Last Round and introduced me to a distant Giovanni cousin who had told us about a massive family reunion that was taking place in a couple of days, members flying in from all over the country. If I were to infiltrate their ranks I couldn't ask for a better cover. I asked him if his broken arm had anything to do with his coming forward with the information, but he very urgently denied it.

Jack told me sneak up behind LaCroix and push him out his penthouse window. I didn't think it would've proven overly helpful, but he disagreed.

Gary gave me a map of the Giovanni familial estate where the reunion was being held, including notations about hidden crawlspaces and secret passageways.

Sebastian LaCroix said that they didn't have the manpower to assault the Giovanni stronghold directly, but he was able to get me an official invitation to the reunion, as well as an assumed identity. I asked if there was a real Maria Rosselini I might run into, and he assured me that there wasn't.

Anymore.



I stared at the computer screen, setting my still warm champagne glass on the desk. The reunion was tonight. I'd done my research, sent out my feelers, called in more than one favor and I still didn't have a plan beyond walking through the front door and ad-libbing. I had one more e-mail unopened, from VV.

Subject: Helen, are you okay?

I haven't heard from you since that snake Gary sent you off to Chinatown. I don't know what happened, but the stories I hear from the grapevine... I hope you're okay, Helen. If you need to talk about anything, please, don't be afraid to stop by. Even if it's just to pass the time.


I miss you.


-VV



Gary sent me a poster of my 'girlfriend' the other day. He giggled like a little girl when he called to ask if I got it.


I didn't tell him I hung it up.



I reply to the e-mail, tell her I'm busy, but fine. I don't tell her about the Fu Syndicate, what they did to me or what I did to them. I think it's better that way.



I head down the stairs and out the door, punching ground floor button the elevator. Heather's been away lately, busy with college and a business I hear she's starting. In a way, I'm sorry she's gone so often, but after almost dry humping me to death and begging for blood after I got back from my vacation in Chinatown, it's a welcome change.

Tung says she practically tore the city apart looking for me, he had to get Knox to follow her around and keep her from pushing people she'd be better off not pushing.

I should probably start giving her some firearms training, come to think of it.



LA's been tumbling downhill in the two weeks I've been out of the picture, lots of fires and riots and health violations. That's all thanks mostly to the plague. I stopped the original source, yeah, but the thing's still a plague. It's still spreading and the kine are still dying. Washington's declared it a national emergency and the CDC is getting supplemented by the National Guard and the US Army. The streets are starting to look like a bad horror show.

It's really killed the club scene.

The taxi cab is waiting, unbidden, right outside my building, engine running.

"The Giovanni manor?"
"Yeah, the Giovanni manor, you fucking stalker."
"I just drive you where you need to go."
"Whatever, drive then."

I slip inside the cab, shutting the rusting door behind me.



"There is a truck waiting out back. Mr. LaCroix wishes you to transport the sarcophagus back yourself, he believes it will reduce the risk of another theft."

I'm already walking away from the cab.

"If they can get it away from me, they've earned it."



At least it's not as over the top as LaCroix's place.



I walk up to the entrance, passing lavishly wealthy couples and chauffeurs parking cars they could never afford in a hundred and thirty years. There was power here, you could smell it just as strongly as you could at Isaac's or the LaCroix tower. For the first time in a long time I felt like I was a part of it. For whatever scars I got from the Fu Syndicate, it was a nice reminder that away from guys like Nines, LaCroix or the Vatican Hunters, I wasn't exactly powerless.



Alright, game face.



"Invitation."

There's a slight pause before the word, as if he had to remember why he was standing by the door at all. I hand him the embossed paper card. He stares at it for a moment, clearly not reading, before handing it back.

"Okay. You can go in."



A woman died for that.



The interior of the mansion is stark white marble and a scattered handful of early family members covered in overpriced, under quality, Italian brands.

Fond, fond memories.



First thing I should probably do is scout the local talent.

"Hello." I greet her with my most sincere fake smile.



"Hi..." She pauses, scanning my face. "I... don't think we've met before."

"Maria Rosselini. And you are?"

"Nadia Millner. It's a pleasure to meet you." She actually sounds genuinely pleasant. "Are you from the Chicago Rosselinis?"

"I am, yes." I reply, still smiling.

"Oh, you have to give my regards to Great Aunt Francis when you get back. I stayed with her last time I went out that way, she was so sweet."

A servant passes with a tray of glasses filled with white wine. Nadia offers me one, but I turn it down.

"I'll wait for one of the red ones. Are you from Los Angeles?"

"Oh, no. I'm working on my Master's here. I'm from out east, the Giovanni were kind enough to let me stay here while I finish up my studies. I've learned a lot from them, like you wouldn't believe."

She takes a sip from her glass.

"Oh, I'd believe quite a bit." I smile, not taking my eyes off of her. She swallows, glancing away.



"I, um... I really can't talk about it. I've probably... said too much already."

"Please, Nadia, we're family here. I doubt there's any scary secrets I haven't spent my childhood messing around with."

"Well..." She hesitates a moment, looking into my eyes. "...Alright."



"Come on, follow me."

She leads me away from the central entry chamber, through a few hallways covered in too-white stone. Every so often she glances behind her to make sure I'm still following, and every time she sees me she smiles.

I'm starting to wonder if I'm much too charming.



On the wall of what appears to be a very, very white study is a sword mounted on a dark wooden plaque. She pulls the hilt like a lever, and a bookcase slides away from the wall. She turns around giggling and beckoning me with her hand.

"Come on, it's down here."

The sudden tingle of dangers starts working up my fingertips. Hopefully she wants to show me a crazy old Sarcophagus and a fork lift.



Man, I hope there's a fork lift.



She stops at a large chamber at the bottom of the staircase.

"Okay, this is going to be a little weird but it's so cool. Don't say I didn't warn you and... be ready to run. Just in case. You'll see in a second."

She takes my hand and points down the hallway. Vague forms are shambling in the distance, emitting eerily familiar groans and mutterings. I stare at Nadia, the young girl overcome with excitement.



"Look at them! Actual zombies! They don't attack, as long as you don't provoke them." She shakes her head slowly in wonder, still smiling. "You can feel the death coming off of them. It's all over the manor, but it comes from here. It comes from them."

She turns slowly to look at me, squeezing the hand I almost forgot she was holding.

"Let's bring some life to this place."

I stare at her, a look of shock escaping my professional mask.

"W-What?"

"Right here." She wraps her free arm around my waist. "Let's do it right here. The ultimate exhibition of living surrounded by the crushing visage of death, it'll be... cathartic."

I pull her arm away from my waist, taking an instinctive step back.

"Woah, woah, I do not want-" There's a roar from deep within the catacomb tunnel. Nadia drops her embrace and steps back as well, staring into the darkness as the rapidly sloping shadows of countless dead swarm down the tunnel towards us, eyes glowing with a yellow fire.

"Caaaammmaaarilllllaaaaaa..." The voice echoes from a rotting throat somewhere in the advancing hoard.

"Cama... what?" Nadia is backing towards the stairs. "They're... oh god they're going to kill us, what are they doing? They're not supposed to-"



I pull the glock from my jacket and start firing.



Every double tap sees another zombie collapse beneath the rushing hoard. Headshots. Stay cool. Accuracy over rate of fire.



There's rumbling from the ground around me and I can hear Nadia fleeing upstairs. Good. She's safe and I don't have to find a sexual assault lawyer. The rumbling behind me turns to a low moan. I turn around in time to see one of the Giovanni zombies up close.



Despite my skull being desperately bitten open, I manage to jam the pistol against his temple and fire.



Zombies. Do not like real zombies. Would much rather be shooting sick people again.



Their ranks are thinning now, I should be able to push forward. Hopefully the Ankaran Sarcophagus is hidden somewhere in the catacombs. It'd make at least a little sense. I move through the first stage of tunnels and down another flight of stairs.



Hopefully the Giovanni don't have too many corpses kept down here.



I follow the winding maze of tunnels and stairwells for nearly a solid hour, getting lost only once. The dead were rapidly thinning, at least, the reanimated ones were. The floors were littered with already mutilated corpses, most of them cut open or apart. I followed another stairway down, the last of the zombie groaning long since stopped. Before me stood a large doorway issuing a pale blue light.



This has got to be it.

I step out onto the ledge, a large, cavernous chamber opening up below me. There, against the far wall, sits the slab of stone that has the entire city in such an apocalyptic frenzy.



All of this nonesense for such a... large and... forkliftless thing. Wonderful. Something moves in the central chamber and I crane my neck down.



I suppose they aren't here to help me move it.



"Kindred! Your presence here violates the agreement! Leave now or face the consequences of your actions."

Not what I was expecting. I lean over the ledge, shouting down.

"I'm here for the Ankaran Sarcophagus, what are you talking about? What agreement?"

"There is an alliance between your leader LaCroix and the beautiful Mistress Xio. You are in violation of the agreement! If you do not leave we are not responsible for your death."

An alliance? Between the Kindred and the Kuei-Jin? LaCroix never said anything about that... he must still be worried about the Anarchs going to war over Nines. They've had a lot of trouble with the Kuei-Jin in the past, so Ming would be a natural ally against them, but... what's supposed to happen if the Anarchs are wiped out? LaCroix would never let the Kuei-Jin get anymore of a foothold in the states, would he? And if the conditions of the alliance were to give the sarcophagus to the Kuei-Jin, why would he back out of it with a war looming closer than ever?

It doesn't make any goddamn sense.

"For the final time! We offer you the chance to leave this place and keep your life. You will go?"

"No."



I slip the glock back into its shoulder case and pull the Israeli made Uzi from the jacket's largest concealed holster, unfolding the stock as the Chinese brothers begin to glow.

Chinese Brothers

I leap off the ledge of the chamber, hitting the ground and rolling to a kneel in front of the claw-armed brother.



He charges through my stream of fire, supernatural strength keeping the barrel from climbing more than a few millimeters. The bullets tear through his torso as he charges, blood and ash spewing in a trail behind him. I can't see the other Kuei-Jin. He reaches me despite his horrible strategy and plants one of the claws clean through my chest. Another visit to the tailor. I smash his face with the handle and he staggers back. I hear a footstep to my right and I roll away in time to see a blade flash down, shattering the stone below it. I aim the uzi and watch pieces of the shattered magazine and handle crumble to the ground. Hit him harder than I thought. I stand, backpedeling as I reach for my hip holster, fingers wrapping around the mother of pearl.



The claw brother is already on me, sailing through the air. I press down on the trigger and slam the hammer down with my hand, five times in rapid succession.



I leap back as he explodes into a shower of sparks and fire. I pop the cylinder and whirl to face the remaining Kuei-Jin as the empty shell casings tumble out. I pull a speed loader from inside VV's thoughtful leather gift and jam it in.



Blade brother takes his lumps like a champ.



He leaps forward, tip of his blade catching my throat as I dodge a hard right. If I'd been a little slower, that would have been it. Didn't matter how hurt he was or how well I'd done until now... a half second slower and I'd be a headless skeleton instead of bleeding through my esophagus.

Even I couldn't survive decapitation.


Could I?



He charges a final time his skull exploding into a wave of dust and blood as the magnum chamber empties into it. His corpse collapses to the ground as it burns away, sword clattering to the stone.



Whelp.







Time to start pushing.